On Sep 29, 4:16 pm, "clot" wrote:
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On Sep 29, 2:42 pm, "clot" wrote:
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On Sep 29, 1:52 pm, "clot" wrote:
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On 27 Sep, 23:47, "clot" wrote:
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On 27 Sep, 18:13, "clot" wrote:
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On 27 Sep, 17:49, "clot" wrote:
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On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
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On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
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On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
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On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip
another snip

All the houses in the general area were built at the same time,
between 35 and 40 years ago. There are two stopcocks outside the
front gate; one that belongs to our house and one that belongs to
theirs. Our service pipe is of the black plastic variety, would
have been put in at the time when the house was built. As far as I
know they have the same pipe, but I could check. Our stopcock only
serves us, I am sure of that.

Hmm. This is a puzzler! You didn't mention whether your service
pipe is particularly lengthy by comparison with the others in the
neighbourhood - I'm guessing not. Your neighbour's connection to
the main is right beside yours so that whilst you my be on a
balance point in the system, if your neighbour is not experiencing
the same problem, it sounds like the issue does relate to your
plumbing. Has there been much re-plumbing in the house, are there
dead legs of redundant pipework that are filled with water?

Our service pipe would be about the same length as just about all of
the houses around. I don't think we have any unusual plumbing
features in the house; service pipe to kitchen sink and out to
washing machine; after the kitchen sink it goes up to the attic
tank, then to the upstairs and downstairs sinks/showers. When the
water seems dirty up in the taps upstairs (it only ever goes a
faint yellow/green colour when you it fills the basin, never brown
or anything) and slimy etc, it will be the same story at the
kitchen mains tap. We have had the house replumbed in certain parts
due to getting some work done on the house, but the problems were
the same before. The water used to be a lot worse though before I
discovered 'flushing' both in the house and on the road (by the
water depot).

Late last night, I decided to do one of my irritating 'washing
machine flushes' like I explained in one of my recent posts. I let
the water loose at full whack (our pressure probably isnt that
good, but still decent) and also at the kitchen sink afterwards.
This morning I then let the hot water tap run until the system had
drained and the (hopefully) cleaner water came throughout the
house. Lo and behold, the water is now much improved. It won't last
of course.

Is it really likely that we are on a 'balance point?' There are so
many houses on the road on both sides, and we are the fourth house
on one side of the road as you enter. We have been told explicitly
that we are not on a dead end either.

Depending on how the district is supplied, the whole of the street
could be on a balance point. The other poster's comments about
chlorinating your supply is unlikely to be of much use I'm afraid.
If you've got a biological film in the pipework then the solution is
to remove that rather than just "killing it"for a while. It must be
physically removed hence my comment about air scouring. I'd see if
this was possible (and potential cost) compared to replacing the
swervice pipe as a first step.

I cant find anything regarding air scouring in a domestic situation, I
dont think plumbers really know of it. At this point I'm fairly
certain that the problem is mostly on my side of the supply, but I
don't seem to have any options. I don't think even replacing the
service pipe would be an option because I think such things are
heavily regulated by local authorities. It is just awful to have to
live like this though, you feel worse after a shower than before you
got in! The water can be drank, but only after a lot of flushing has
been done, otherwise you're in for stomach troubles. F*ck this.

I'm afraid I don't know what the legislation is in Ireland. In the UK,
the customer is responsible for the service pipe from the stop tap in
the footpath and can relay that though I'm not certain about the final
connection to the stop tap. Sounds like another word with the Water
Dept. to me.

Well, thanks ever so much for your advice. I think I will get on to my
uncle and his crew of plumbing guys and see if they can lay a new
pipe. I dread to think of the cost involved, and it will even be hard
to convince them of the point in doing it.