We recently had a water purifier installed and have had some problems
with bits of "fur" in the water. We think this is because the plumber
left the lid to the cold water tank off, and maybe some of the loft
insulation managed to get in. I installed a lid to cover this.

But today we had a specks of green in the water in a bath, and am
trying to figure out the cause. As I understand it, a water purifier
can cause this to happen. What I cannot figure out is:

1. Should this only be happening to new copper pipes or old as well?
2. Will it continue for ever implying it is corroding the copper and
eventually causing a leak?

According to other posts on the net, the implication is that it can
take maybe up to 60 days to "clean out" the copper pipes so this might
be expected but we are almost certainly beyond a 30+ day usage on the
purifier and we hadnt seen this until now.

I've checked the FAQ on water purifiers and it doesnt really cover the
subject of the affect of soft water on copper pipes - whether to just
expect some temporary conditions until the copper coats itself in
appropriate-oxide (eg calcium?)


Also, going back to the fur in the bath water, we seem to be seeing a
slight resurgence of this and wander if any one has any clues.

any clues will be most appreciated

"paul.d.fox" wrote in message
oups.com...
We recently had a water purifier installed and have had some problems
with bits of "fur" in the water. We think this is because the plumber
left the lid to the cold water tank off, and maybe some of the loft
insulation managed to get in. I installed a lid to cover this.

But today we had a specks of green in the water in a bath, and am
trying to figure out the cause. As I understand it, a water purifier
can cause this to happen. What I cannot figure out is:

Maybe the purifier is somehow descaling your pipes?
Maybe what you are getting out the tap, is bits of scale as they break of
the inside of the pipes?

Sparks...

paul.d.fox wrote:

We recently had a water purifier installed and have had some problems
with bits of "fur" in the water. We think this is because the plumber

What exactly do you mean by "purifier"? (i.e. is it a filter, or a
softener, or a phosphate dosing unit etc)

Secondly where is the unit installed? Does it feed the rest of the
system or just a dedicated tap?

But today we had a specks of green in the water in a bath, and am
trying to figure out the cause. As I understand it, a water purifier
can cause this to happen. What I cannot figure out is:

Green specs sounds like a mixture of scale and verdigris...

If you had a well scaled hot water cylinder for example and then added a
ion exchange water softener to the incoming cold main such that the
whole house is now getting softened water, it will cause existing scale
to start to dissolve - possibly freeing some into the water.

1. Should this only be happening to new copper pipes or old as well?

Probably the older stuff... depends on what you mean by "new".


--
Cheers,

John.

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"paul.d.fox" wrote in message
oups.com...
We recently had a water purifier installed and have had some problems
with bits of "fur" in the water. We think this is because the plumber
left the lid to the cold water tank off, and maybe some of the loft
insulation managed to get in. I installed a lid to cover this.

But today we had a specks of green in the water in a bath, and am
trying to figure out the cause. As I understand it, a water purifier
can cause this to happen. What I cannot figure out is:

1. Should this only be happening to new copper pipes or old as well?
2. Will it continue for ever implying it is corroding the copper and
eventually causing a leak?

According to other posts on the net, the implication is that it can
take maybe up to 60 days to "clean out" the copper pipes so this might
be expected but we are almost certainly beyond a 30+ day usage on the
purifier and we hadnt seen this until now.

I've checked the FAQ on water purifiers and it doesnt really cover the
subject of the affect of soft water on copper pipes - whether to just
expect some temporary conditions until the copper coats itself in
appropriate-oxide (eg calcium?)


Also, going back to the fur in the bath water, we seem to be seeing a
slight resurgence of this and wander if any one has any clues.
any clues will be most appreciated

I got this for months after fitting a water softener. The bits we-

- Lumps of scale (often green) now freed from being attached to the
pipework.
- Blobs of scaled solder
- Plastic shavings from the holes drilled in the loft tanks.

After a couple of months all stopped.