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songbird

wrote:

What is causing the black gunk? Our main toilets are 50 years old and the insides of the tanks are barely coated with a light film of stuff. You can see right thru whatever has built up and read the original writing on the inside tank walls.

lucky you! here it is iron in the water that feeds
harmless bacteria.

if we take the faucet off or do any other kind of
work on the pipes the water that comes out of the
pipes is black for a few minutes until it will run
clear again. i think that is also iron fed bacteria
lining the pipes a little. as it doesn't plug the
pipes it's not a problem i worry about.

as to why to do it once a year instead of buying
a new flapper each time? seems rather silly to me
to pay money for a new flapper when a few minutes of
time and a bit of vaseline and it's done. but to
each their own i guess...

songbird