Wax-paper-like ribbon substance clogging showerhead filter

[LukePDX]

I had to extract this ribbon-like substance from the filter going to my showerhead.

Does anyone know what component it is coming from?

1. Noritz tankless water heater #NRCP1112-DVNG.
2. PEX piping with joints.
3. Hansgrohe mixing valve.
4. Something else?

I haven't seen it appear in any other devices hooked up to the sytsem (4 sinks, a bathtub, and another shower). Could it just be the mixing valve?

 

[Breplum]

not normal. some outside contamination. looks like plastic film...it isn't from water

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

If your home is feed with PVC pipe before entering the home too much cement was applied to a fitting and it runs down inside the pipe and then hardens in a few minutes. This may have been the cause and it finally worked loose. CPVC pipe is used inside the home and its cement is usually yellow in color.

 

[LukePDX]

not normal. some outside contamination. looks like plastic film...it isn't from water

Yeah, it could be a plastic film.

I'm just not sure what it's coming from though. It's not appearing in any other locations attached to the same system but is repeatedly showing up in this one location. I'm not sure how I go about dealing with it if it's not something obvious... do I just keep extracting bits of it from the shower until something larger actually fails? I could call a plumber but I'm not sure what their reaction will be if it's not a normal thing.

 

[LukePDX]

If your home is feed with PVC pipe before entering the home too much cement was applied to a fitting and it runs down inside the pipe and then hardens in a few minutes. This may have been the cause and it finally worked loose. CPVC pipe is used inside the home and its cement is usually yellow in color.

I guess it could be but is there any reason I'd only be seeing it make it's way to this one place in the house? I checked all the screens and this is the only one that has it.

 

[WorthFlorida]

I guess it could be but is there any reason I'd only be seeing it make it's way to this one place in the house? I checked all the screens and this is the only one that has it.

If it is soft and pliable, it may have been inside a pipe during construction as Breplum suggested. Dried cement would be stiff

 

[LukePDX]

If it is soft and pliable, it may have been inside a pipe during construction as Breplum suggested. Dried cement would be stiff

Yeah, it's like a flimsy thin film of plastic or waxy paper. Not stiff at all. I guess the only option right now is to keep cleaning it out until something fails or it goes away. Thanks everyone.

 

[Reach4]

Have you checked the aerator screens in spouts?

I would look to a flex supply line feeding the shower. I have not seen reports of those shedding the stuff in your picture. Many of those do shed black greasy particles.

 

[LukePDX]

Have you checked the aerator screens in spouts?

I would look to a flex supply line feeding the shower. I have not seen reports of those shedding the stuff in your picture. Many of those do shed black greasy particles.

Yeah, I've been constantly looking at aerators and screens throughout the system and this one screen filter to the showerhead is the only place I keep finding this stuff. It's all macroscopic and the same material.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

I'm sure other plumbers have seen this before. I've only done it with ABS cement. But if you drip ABS cement into a body of water like a bucket. The drips will flatten out and expand like 200x the size of the drip and create a micro thin film on the surface.. Similar to what Worth was getting at.. perhaps that happened in a larger line upstream in the system that had water in it or was wet enough to cause that. Filming up on the waters surface but not bonding with the plastic pipe wall.

 

[LukePDX]

I'm sure other plumbers have seen this before. I've only done it with ABS cement. But if you drip ABS cement into a body of water like a bucket. The drips will flatten out and expand like 200x the size of the drip and create a micro thin film on the surface.. Similar to what Worth was getting at.. perhaps that happened in a larger line upstream in the system that had water in it or was wet enough to cause that. Filming up on the waters surface but not bonding with the plastic pipe wall.

Yeah, all of the internal plumbing is relatively new PEX (3-4 years), and it's only showing up in this one place (three or four times now). I guess it could have been a large piece that just made its way through from the outside, and then got stuck and is slowly degrading in a nearby line. I just have my fingers crossed that it's going to stop showing up and nothing (mixing valve or on-demand hot water) will fail in the meantime.

 

[Fitter30]

Have a pressure reducing valve? They have a screen usually access from the bottom so it not coming from outside the house. Possibly from plastic from packing material that was from a device at install just broke loose. If piped with copper ,pipe isn't capped might have been in the pipe.

 

[LukePDX]

Okay, so after a week more of finding this material in the showerhead screen, I decided to replace the soft hansgrohe handheld shower hose. It turns out that there is a thin, flexible, plastic liner in that hose and it was delaminating.

 

[LukePDX]

I can't seem to insert photos, so I'm trying to upload them as attachments. There's basically some sort of coating inside that inner sleeve that's coming off.

 

[Reach4]

If you call them, they might send a replacement free.

 

[LukePDX]

If you call them, they might send a replacement free.

That's interesting. I actually bought one from amazon before I cut this one open to confirm, unfortunately. If someone else runs into this in the future they can try that. I wish I could upload the photos but terrylove keeps responding with "Oops! We ran into some problems."