Hi guys we have had major water issues in our house since we moved in about 5 years. Water pressure will be fine and then slowly over time will get worse & worse. At first I had no idea but then i started tearing apart shower heads, ect..... What I found was sentiment was be blocking the water flow. On our sinks i would find sentiment in the aerator. Today I was taking a shower and had bad water pressure and decided to tear apart the shower head (at this point the shower head is only 8 months old and this is what I found):
So having no idea what this is/was I called our local water department (thinking) it was sentiment coming through the water system. The guys I talked to there was great and asked me if I had an aluminum or magnesium anode rode in my hot water heater. Of course I had no idea. I sent this pic to his sell phone. I told him generally the sentiment I see (which is usually from the sinks) is a gritty substance that kind of reminds me of sand particles. He asked if it was blue/whitish (and I think it is). He told me this gooey substance I was looking at would probably be the same after it dried. At this point after I clean out the shower head or faucet pressure will be ok but will slowly get worse over about a month until its driving me nuts again and I got to clean it out again.
Anyways what the guys suggested was that I check the anode rode and verify whether its aluminum or magnesium. He said if its aluminum replace it. He told me there might be some build up of the sentiment and might have to have my water pipes. cleaned out.
So 1st question is do you think just replacing the anode rode will be enough. If this is a common problem with aluminum why do they every use it? Do you think just replacing the anode rod will be enough or do I need to get the water heater replaced? Do you think I might have to get the water pipes cleaned out because there is sentiment built up in the pipes and what would be involved there?
thanks......
So having no idea what this is/was I called our local water department (thinking) it was sentiment coming through the water system. The guys I talked to there was great and asked me if I had an aluminum or magnesium anode rode in my hot water heater. Of course I had no idea. I sent this pic to his sell phone. I told him generally the sentiment I see (which is usually from the sinks) is a gritty substance that kind of reminds me of sand particles. He asked if it was blue/whitish (and I think it is). He told me this gooey substance I was looking at would probably be the same after it dried. At this point after I clean out the shower head or faucet pressure will be ok but will slowly get worse over about a month until its driving me nuts again and I got to clean it out again.
Anyways what the guys suggested was that I check the anode rode and verify whether its aluminum or magnesium. He said if its aluminum replace it. He told me there might be some build up of the sentiment and might have to have my water pipes. cleaned out.
So 1st question is do you think just replacing the anode rode will be enough. If this is a common problem with aluminum why do they every use it? Do you think just replacing the anode rod will be enough or do I need to get the water heater replaced? Do you think I might have to get the water pipes cleaned out because there is sentiment built up in the pipes and what would be involved there?
thanks......