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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.

You're welcome. I hope that replacing the pipe resolves it for you. I
can imagine you're going to have difficulty convincing your uncle and
his mates of the need for this. Let us know how you get on.