Hello,

Basically we have a bacterial slime build up along our rising main,
which, when it flares up, makes our water slimy and horrible to wash
in/drink etc. It probably happened some years ago when the house was
left idle, ie stagnation occurred. The only thing that temporarily
helps is turning off the water at the outside stopcock, and back on
again after opening the garden tap. The water flows through at full
whack, and this clears the problem, albeit only for a few days...

Should I replace the whole rising main, or come up with something a
little more cost effective? Its doing me nut.

None wrote:
Hello,

Basically we have a bacterial slime build up along our rising main,
which, when it flares up, makes our water slimy and horrible to wash
in/drink etc. It probably happened some years ago when the house was
left idle, ie stagnation occurred. The only thing that temporarily
helps is turning off the water at the outside stopcock, and back on
again after opening the garden tap. The water flows through at full
whack, and this clears the problem, albeit only for a few days...

Should I replace the whole rising main, or come up with something a
little more cost effective? Its doing me nut.

I need more information to understand what is going on. What do you mean
by a rising main? Is this from a public or private supply? If from
public, there should be sufficient disinfection to prevent bacterial
growth in the supply pipe. That you mention a stopcock suggests a public
supply - but not necessarily the case. I'm loath to provide advice
without a better picture of your situation.

Replacing the rising main would do nothing, if you have a continued
supply water quality problem. More info. please.

On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
Hello,

Basically we have a bacterial slime build up along our rising main,
which, when it flares up, makes our water slimy and horrible to wash
in/drink etc. It probably happened some years ago when the house was
left idle, ie stagnation occurred. The only thing that temporarily
helps is turning off the water at the outside stopcock, and back on
again after opening the garden tap. The water flows through at full
whack, and this clears the problem, albeit only for a few days...

Should I replace the whole rising main, or come up with something a
little more cost effective? Its doing me nut.

I need more information to understand what is going on. What do you mean
by a rising main? Is this from a public or private supply? If from
public, there should be sufficient disinfection to prevent bacterial
growth in the supply pipe. That you mention a stopcock suggests a public
supply - but not necessarily the case. I'm loath to provide advice
without a better picture of your situation.

Replacing the rising main would do nothing, if you have a continued
supply water quality problem. More info. please.

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality improves
so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous state.

On 27 Sep, 11:05, wrote:
On 27 Sep,
None wrote:

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality improves
so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous state.

If you could isolate the pipe at the stopcock and fill it with a chlorine
solution for a couple of hours, then thoroughly flush the pipe it could
improve matters. What type of pipe is it, and who owns the stopcock? Is it of
a WRC approved type, and could it be changed as well?

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

It seems to be black plastic LDPE type, I think, and measures 3/4 in.
Not sure what WRC approved means, sorry. We own the stopcock. How
could we enter the chlorine solution without breaking into the pipe?
It would be great to get this done with as little disruption as
possible.

"None" wrote in message
ups.com...
On 27 Sep, 11:05, wrote:
On 27 Sep,
None wrote:

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality improves
so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous state.

If you could isolate the pipe at the stopcock and fill it with a chlorine
solution for a couple of hours, then thoroughly flush the pipe it could
improve matters. What type of pipe is it, and who owns the stopcock? Is
it of
a WRC approved type, and could it be changed as well?

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

It seems to be black plastic LDPE type, I think, and measures 3/4 in.
Not sure what WRC approved means, sorry. We own the stopcock. How
could we enter the chlorine solution without breaking into the pipe?
It would be great to get this done with as little disruption as
possible.

You have LDPE enter the house from the street. I assume a stop cock in the
garden or pavement. Inside the house another stop cock. From this copper
pipe to the tank, cold kitchen tap, etc.

Disconnect the pipe after the stopcock into the house. Drain the water. Cap
up the pipe that runs into the house. From the tank pour the solution down
the pipe. Leave and let the solution do its stuff.

The pipe from the underground stopcock to the house stopcock. You may be
able to push a tube down this to the street stopcock. Blow down the tube and
the water comes out of the pipe back up around the pipe; well most of it.
Again pour down solution. leave. Connect everything back up after and flush
through, If it re-emerges then contact the water people as it is on their
side.

On 27 Sep, 13:18, "Doctor Drivel" wrote:
"None" wrote in message

ups.com...



On 27 Sep, 11:05, wrote:
On 27 Sep,
None wrote:

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality improves
so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous state.

If you could isolate the pipe at the stopcock and fill it with a chlorine
solution for a couple of hours, then thoroughly flush the pipe it could
improve matters. What type of pipe is it, and who owns the stopcock? Is
it of
a WRC approved type, and could it be changed as well?

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

It seems to be black plastic LDPE type, I think, and measures 3/4 in.
Not sure what WRC approved means, sorry. We own the stopcock. How
could we enter the chlorine solution without breaking into the pipe?
It would be great to get this done with as little disruption as
possible.

You have LDPE enter the house from the street. I assume a stop cock in the
garden or pavement. Inside the house another stop cock. From this copper
pipe to the tank, cold kitchen tap, etc.

Disconnect the pipe after the stopcock into the house. Drain the water. Cap
up the pipe that runs into the house. From the tank pour the solution down
the pipe. Leave and let the solution do its stuff.

The pipe from the underground stopcock to the house stopcock. You may be
able to push a tube down this to the street stopcock. Blow down the tube and
the water comes out of the pipe back up around the pipe; well most of it.
Again pour down solution. leave. Connect everything back up after and flush
through, If it re-emerges then contact the water people as it is on their
side.

My first reply didnt seem to go through. Basically two things
Doctor... firstly do you know what solution would be safe and
effective? And also regarding the tube, would it have to long enough
to actually reach the pavment stopcock from the kitchen??

"None" wrote in message
oups.com...
On 27 Sep, 13:18, "Doctor Drivel" wrote:
"None" wrote in message

ups.com...



On 27 Sep, 11:05, wrote:
On 27 Sep,
None wrote:

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality
improves
so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous state.

If you could isolate the pipe at the stopcock and fill it with a
chlorine
solution for a couple of hours, then thoroughly flush the pipe it
could
improve matters. What type of pipe is it, and who owns the stopcock?
Is
it of
a WRC approved type, and could it be changed as well?

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

It seems to be black plastic LDPE type, I think, and measures 3/4 in.
Not sure what WRC approved means, sorry. We own the stopcock. How
could we enter the chlorine solution without breaking into the pipe?
It would be great to get this done with as little disruption as
possible.

You have LDPE enter the house from the street. I assume a stop cock in
the
garden or pavement. Inside the house another stop cock. From this copper
pipe to the tank, cold kitchen tap, etc.

Disconnect the pipe after the stopcock into the house. Drain the water.
Cap
up the pipe that runs into the house. From the tank pour the solution
down
the pipe. Leave and let the solution do its stuff.

The pipe from the underground stopcock to the house stopcock. You may be
able to push a tube down this to the street stopcock. Blow down the tube
and
the water comes out of the pipe back up around the pipe; well most of it.
Again pour down solution. leave. Connect everything back up after and
flush
through, If it re-emerges then contact the water people as it is on their
side.

My first reply didnt seem to go through. Basically two things
Doctor... firstly do you know what solution would be safe and
effective?

See Kamco, they would make the appropriate liquid.

And also regarding the tube, would it have to long enough
to actually reach the pavment stopcock from the kitchen??

I would think so, or as far down as you can get. You have to get the water
out, or most of it, and then pour down the liquid.

On 27 Sep, 13:57, "Doctor Drivel" wrote:
"None" wrote in message

oups.com...



On 27 Sep, 13:18, "Doctor Drivel" wrote:
"None" wrote in message

roups.com...

On 27 Sep, 11:05, wrote:
On 27 Sep,
None wrote:

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality
improves
so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous state.

If you could isolate the pipe at the stopcock and fill it with a
chlorine
solution for a couple of hours, then thoroughly flush the pipe it
could
improve matters. What type of pipe is it, and who owns the stopcock?
Is
it of
a WRC approved type, and could it be changed as well?

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

It seems to be black plastic LDPE type, I think, and measures 3/4 in.
Not sure what WRC approved means, sorry. We own the stopcock. How
could we enter the chlorine solution without breaking into the pipe?
It would be great to get this done with as little disruption as
possible.

You have LDPE enter the house from the street. I assume a stop cock in
the
garden or pavement. Inside the house another stop cock. From this copper
pipe to the tank, cold kitchen tap, etc.

Disconnect the pipe after the stopcock into the house. Drain the water.
Cap
up the pipe that runs into the house. From the tank pour the solution
down
the pipe. Leave and let the solution do its stuff.

The pipe from the underground stopcock to the house stopcock. You may be
able to push a tube down this to the street stopcock. Blow down the tube
and
the water comes out of the pipe back up around the pipe; well most of it.
Again pour down solution. leave. Connect everything back up after and
flush
through, If it re-emerges then contact the water people as it is on their
side.

My first reply didnt seem to go through. Basically two things
Doctor... firstly do you know what solution would be safe and
effective?

See Kamco, they would make the appropriate liquid.

And also regarding the tube, would it have to long enough
to actually reach the pavment stopcock from the kitchen??

I would think so, or as far down as you can get. You have to get the water
out, or most of it, and then pour down the liquid.


The stopcock in the kitchen is tricky to access, being behind the
utensil drawers, that could be a pain...

How much solution (presumably chlorine tabs) would need to be poured
down? I mean the pipe length from kitchen to pavement must be about
25-30 feet.

Oh and finally, how long should I let the disinfectant 'do its stuff'
in such a lengthy set of pipe runs? Cheers.

None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
Hello,

Basically we have a bacterial slime build up along our rising main,
which, when it flares up, makes our water slimy and horrible to wash
in/drink etc. It probably happened some years ago when the house was
left idle, ie stagnation occurred. The only thing that temporarily
helps is turning off the water at the outside stopcock, and back on
again after opening the garden tap. The water flows through at full
whack, and this clears the problem, albeit only for a few days...

Should I replace the whole rising main, or come up with something a
little more cost effective? Its doing me nut.

I need more information to understand what is going on. What do you
mean by a rising main? Is this from a public or private supply? If
from public, there should be sufficient disinfection to prevent
bacterial growth in the supply pipe. That you mention a stopcock
suggests a public supply - but not necessarily the case. I'm loath
to provide advice without a better picture of your situation.

Replacing the rising main would do nothing, if you have a continued
supply water quality problem. More info. please.

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality improves
so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous state.

Sorry None, I should have checked your name before replying. Still
having the problem, I see. Does the water service accept that you have a
problem? I appreciate that your neighbours are not getting the same
difficulty, but it is possible that you are on a balance point as
previously discussed and thus receiving "old water" so that the chlorine
content has been all but consumed. It would seem to me that the main and
your service pipe are in need of an air scour. Could you see whether the
water dept. will do this?

On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
Hello,

Basically we have a bacterial slime build up along our rising main,
which, when it flares up, makes our water slimy and horrible to wash
in/drink etc. It probably happened some years ago when the house was
left idle, ie stagnation occurred. The only thing that temporarily
helps is turning off the water at the outside stopcock, and back on
again after opening the garden tap. The water flows through at full
whack, and this clears the problem, albeit only for a few days...

Should I replace the whole rising main, or come up with something a
little more cost effective? Its doing me nut.

I need more information to understand what is going on. What do you
mean by a rising main? Is this from a public or private supply? If
from public, there should be sufficient disinfection to prevent
bacterial growth in the supply pipe. That you mention a stopcock
suggests a public supply - but not necessarily the case. I'm loath
to provide advice without a better picture of your situation.

Replacing the rising main would do nothing, if you have a continued
supply water quality problem. More info. please.

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality improves
so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous state.

Sorry None, I should have checked your name before replying. Still
having the problem, I see. Does the water service accept that you have a
problem? I appreciate that your neighbours are not getting the same
difficulty, but it is possible that you are on a balance point as
previously discussed and thus receiving "old water" so that the chlorine
content has been all but consumed. It would seem to me that the main and
your service pipe are in need of an air scour. Could you see whether the
water dept. will do this?

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway, would an
air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our neighbours are very
closely all around us too, so I don't really think that there would be
much difference in our chlorine content tbh. The water depot doesn't
accept that we have a problem, saying our test results back in June
were 'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very low, and that was no
surprise as you can never smell or taste it really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service pipe
though?

None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
Hello,

Basically we have a bacterial slime build up along our rising
main, which, when it flares up, makes our water slimy and
horrible to wash in/drink etc. It probably happened some years
ago when the house was left idle, ie stagnation occurred. The
only thing that temporarily helps is turning off the water at the
outside stopcock, and back on again after opening the garden tap.
The water flows through at full whack, and this clears the
problem, albeit only for a few days...

Should I replace the whole rising main, or come up with something
a little more cost effective? Its doing me nut.

I need more information to understand what is going on. What do you
mean by a rising main? Is this from a public or private supply? If
from public, there should be sufficient disinfection to prevent
bacterial growth in the supply pipe. That you mention a stopcock
suggests a public supply - but not necessarily the case. I'm loath
to provide advice without a better picture of your situation.

Replacing the rising main would do nothing, if you have a continued
supply water quality problem. More info. please.

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality
improves so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous
state.

Sorry None, I should have checked your name before replying. Still
having the problem, I see. Does the water service accept that you
have a problem? I appreciate that your neighbours are not getting
the same difficulty, but it is possible that you are on a balance
point as previously discussed and thus receiving "old water" so that
the chlorine content has been all but consumed. It would seem to me
that the main and your service pipe are in need of an air scour.
Could you see whether the water dept. will do this?

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway, would an
air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our neighbours are very
closely all around us too, so I don't really think that there would be
much difference in our chlorine content tbh. The water depot doesn't
accept that we have a problem, saying our test results back in June
were 'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very low, and that was no
surprise as you can never smell or taste it really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service pipe
though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some googling for
"air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like. I've just been googling
for chlorine guidelines in E&W and could not find anything - must admit
I didn't go into every crevice. It does not appear that the chlorine
issue has not moved on since I was involved in the potable supplies side
of things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6 mg/l
leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers' taps would
expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At the level you are
quoting, I would be concerned about the potential for bacterial growth.
What did the water dept. say about 0.02? Do they have internal target
minima? I would be leaning on Dublin's water dept. with that sort of
concentration.

On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
Hello,

Basically we have a bacterial slime build up along our rising
main, which, when it flares up, makes our water slimy and
horrible to wash in/drink etc. It probably happened some years
ago when the house was left idle, ie stagnation occurred. The
only thing that temporarily helps is turning off the water at the
outside stopcock, and back on again after opening the garden tap.
The water flows through at full whack, and this clears the
problem, albeit only for a few days...

Should I replace the whole rising main, or come up with something
a little more cost effective? Its doing me nut.

I need more information to understand what is going on. What do you
mean by a rising main? Is this from a public or private supply? If
from public, there should be sufficient disinfection to prevent
bacterial growth in the supply pipe. That you mention a stopcock
suggests a public supply - but not necessarily the case. I'm loath
to provide advice without a better picture of your situation.

Replacing the rising main would do nothing, if you have a continued
supply water quality problem. More info. please.

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality
improves so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous
state.

Sorry None, I should have checked your name before replying. Still
having the problem, I see. Does the water service accept that you
have a problem? I appreciate that your neighbours are not getting
the same difficulty, but it is possible that you are on a balance
point as previously discussed and thus receiving "old water" so that
the chlorine content has been all but consumed. It would seem to me
that the main and your service pipe are in need of an air scour.
Could you see whether the water dept. will do this?

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway, would an
air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our neighbours are very
closely all around us too, so I don't really think that there would be
much difference in our chlorine content tbh. The water depot doesn't
accept that we have a problem, saying our test results back in June
were 'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very low, and that was no
surprise as you can never smell or taste it really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service pipe
though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some googling for
"air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like. I've just been googling
for chlorine guidelines in E&W and could not find anything - must admit
I didn't go into every crevice. It does not appear that the chlorine
issue has not moved on since I was involved in the potable supplies side
of things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6 mg/l
leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers' taps would
expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At the level you are
quoting, I would be concerned about the potential for bacterial growth.
What did the water dept. say about 0.02? Do they have internal target
minima? I would be leaning on Dublin's water dept. with that sort of
concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in the
area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water votes or laws
here it seems. It depends where you live I suppose. It seems I got
spectacularly unlucky on this one. What is strange is that the quality
can be good, but only after I turn off the outside stopcock, pull out
the washing machine hose in the garden shed, go back out front and
open the stopcock again. This I suppose has the effect of 'flushing'
the pipe through, but is extremely tedious.

The problem seems so obvious: we need more of a chlorine residual, but
they aren't going to listen to me, believing that giving a few flushes
to the mains every couple of months is more than enough. I'm sick of
this.

None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway, would an
air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our neighbours are
very closely all around us too, so I don't really think that there
would be much difference in our chlorine content tbh. The water
depot doesn't accept that we have a problem, saying our test
results back in June were 'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very
low, and that was no surprise as you can never smell or taste it
really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service pipe
though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some googling
for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like. I've just been
googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and could not find anything
- must admit I didn't go into every crevice. It does not appear that
the chlorine issue has not moved on since I was involved in the
potable supplies side of things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6 mg/l
leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers' taps would
expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At the level you are
quoting, I would be concerned about the potential for bacterial
growth. What did the water dept. say about 0.02? Do they have
internal target minima? I would be leaning on Dublin's water dept.
with that sort of concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in the
area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water votes or laws
here it seems. It depends where you live I suppose. It seems I got
spectacularly unlucky on this one. What is strange is that the quality
can be good, but only after I turn off the outside stopcock, pull out
the washing machine hose in the garden shed, go back out front and
open the stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is in the
shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do you mean the
flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used and any other details
that seem relevant.


This I suppose has the effect of 'flushing'
the pipe through, but is extremely tedious.

The problem seems so obvious: we need more of a chlorine residual, but
they aren't going to listen to me, believing that giving a few flushes
to the mains every couple of months is more than enough. I'm sick of
this.

On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip



Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway, would an
air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our neighbours are
very closely all around us too, so I don't really think that there
would be much difference in our chlorine content tbh. The water
depot doesn't accept that we have a problem, saying our test
results back in June were 'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very
low, and that was no surprise as you can never smell or taste it
really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service pipe
though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some googling
for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like. I've just been
googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and could not find anything
- must admit I didn't go into every crevice. It does not appear that
the chlorine issue has not moved on since I was involved in the
potable supplies side of things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6 mg/l
leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers' taps would
expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At the level you are
quoting, I would be concerned about the potential for bacterial
growth. What did the water dept. say about 0.02? Do they have
internal target minima? I would be leaning on Dublin's water dept.
with that sort of concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in the
area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water votes or laws
here it seems. It depends where you live I suppose. It seems I got
spectacularly unlucky on this one. What is strange is that the quality
can be good, but only after I turn off the outside stopcock, pull out
the washing machine hose in the garden shed, go back out front and
open the stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is in the
shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do you mean the
flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used and any other details
that seem relevant.


The washing machine is fed from the mains, is the last point of use
for the water downstairs, and is used at least once a day. It was only
installed there back in February, and we were having the same problems
beforehand. Yes, Im talking about a flexible cold supply hose attached
to the main line.

Back in December, I was replacing the old washing machine, and a load
of dark crud came out of the inlet cold pipe feed to it. It was then
that I began flushing out this pipe (originally into the kitchen sink,
when it was located beside it), now I flush it out into the flower bed
in the garden.

It helps to do this more when the water pressure is at its highest,
late at night. I suppose this doesn't make much sense in the grand
scheme of things though!

None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip



Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway, would
an air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our neighbours
are very closely all around us too, so I don't really think that
there would be much difference in our chlorine content tbh. The
water depot doesn't accept that we have a problem, saying our test
results back in June were 'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very
low, and that was no surprise as you can never smell or taste it
really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service pipe
though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some googling
for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like. I've just been
googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and could not find anything
- must admit I didn't go into every crevice. It does not appear
that the chlorine issue has not moved on since I was involved in
the potable supplies side of things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6 mg/l
leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers' taps
would expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At the
level you are quoting, I would be concerned about the potential
for bacterial growth. What did the water dept. say about 0.02? Do
they have internal target minima? I would be leaning on Dublin's
water dept. with that sort of concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in the
area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water votes or
laws here it seems. It depends where you live I suppose. It seems I
got spectacularly unlucky on this one. What is strange is that the
quality can be good, but only after I turn off the outside
stopcock, pull out the washing machine hose in the garden shed, go
back out front and open the stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is in
the shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do you mean
the flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used and any other
details that seem relevant.


The washing machine is fed from the mains, is the last point of use
for the water downstairs, and is used at least once a day. It was only
installed there back in February, and we were having the same problems
beforehand. Yes, Im talking about a flexible cold supply hose attached
to the main line.

Back in December, I was replacing the old washing machine, and a load
of dark crud came out of the inlet cold pipe feed to it. It was then
that I began flushing out this pipe (originally into the kitchen sink,
when it was located beside it), now I flush it out into the flower bed
in the garden.

It helps to do this more when the water pressure is at its highest,
late at night. I suppose this doesn't make much sense in the grand
scheme of things though!

Good, you've eliminated that as an issue! I just wondered whether this
was a significant deadleg that could be a cause of the problem. It's
frequency of use seems to eliminate it as well. I can appreciate why you
get the best flushing effect when the pressure is high - that makes
sense. You will be able to slough off a greater amount of film that may
be developing in both the main and service pipe.

I guess the neighbours have got used to your midnight capers in the
garden!

On 27 Sep, 17:49, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway, would
an air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our neighbours
are very closely all around us too, so I don't really think that
there would be much difference in our chlorine content tbh. The
water depot doesn't accept that we have a problem, saying our test
results back in June were 'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very
low, and that was no surprise as you can never smell or taste it
really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service pipe
though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some googling
for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like. I've just been
googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and could not find anything
- must admit I didn't go into every crevice. It does not appear
that the chlorine issue has not moved on since I was involved in
the potable supplies side of things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6 mg/l
leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers' taps
would expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At the
level you are quoting, I would be concerned about the potential
for bacterial growth. What did the water dept. say about 0.02? Do
they have internal target minima? I would be leaning on Dublin's
water dept. with that sort of concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in the
area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water votes or
laws here it seems. It depends where you live I suppose. It seems I
got spectacularly unlucky on this one. What is strange is that the
quality can be good, but only after I turn off the outside
stopcock, pull out the washing machine hose in the garden shed, go
back out front and open the stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is in
the shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do you mean
the flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used and any other
details that seem relevant.

The washing machine is fed from the mains, is the last point of use
for the water downstairs, and is used at least once a day. It was only
installed there back in February, and we were having the same problems
beforehand. Yes, Im talking about a flexible cold supply hose attached
to the main line.

Back in December, I was replacing the old washing machine, and a load
of dark crud came out of the inlet cold pipe feed to it. It was then
that I began flushing out this pipe (originally into the kitchen sink,
when it was located beside it), now I flush it out into the flower bed
in the garden.

It helps to do this more when the water pressure is at its highest,
late at night. I suppose this doesn't make much sense in the grand
scheme of things though!

Good, you've eliminated that as an issue! I just wondered whether this
was a significant deadleg that could be a cause of the problem. It's
frequency of use seems to eliminate it as well. I can appreciate why you
get the best flushing effect when the pressure is high - that makes
sense. You will be able to slough off a greater amount of film that may
be developing in both the main and service pipe.

I guess the neighbours have got used to your midnight capers in the
garden!

Any opinion on whether I should go the 'disinfecting of service pipe
route?' It seems as if it is possible to do this, hard work, but not
expensive. With the plentiful amount of houses around the
neighbourhood and the road, the main surely gets enough flow to clean
it pretty well.

None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:49, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway, would
an air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our neighbours
are very closely all around us too, so I don't really think that
there would be much difference in our chlorine content tbh. The
water depot doesn't accept that we have a problem, saying our
test results back in June were 'clear.' The chlorine tested
very, very low, and that was no surprise as you can never smell
or taste it really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service
pipe though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some
googling for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like.
I've just been googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and could
not find anything - must admit I didn't go into every crevice.
It does not appear that the chlorine issue has not moved on
since I was involved in the potable supplies side of things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6
mg/l leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers'
taps would expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At
the level you are quoting, I would be concerned about the
potential for bacterial growth. What did the water dept. say
about 0.02? Do they have internal target minima? I would be
leaning on Dublin's water dept. with that sort of concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in the
area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water votes or
laws here it seems. It depends where you live I suppose. It seems
I got spectacularly unlucky on this one. What is strange is that
the quality can be good, but only after I turn off the outside
stopcock, pull out the washing machine hose in the garden shed, go
back out front and open the stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is in
the shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do you mean
the flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used and any other
details that seem relevant.

The washing machine is fed from the mains, is the last point of use
for the water downstairs, and is used at least once a day. It was
only installed there back in February, and we were having the same
problems beforehand. Yes, Im talking about a flexible cold supply
hose attached to the main line.

Back in December, I was replacing the old washing machine, and a
load of dark crud came out of the inlet cold pipe feed to it. It
was then that I began flushing out this pipe (originally into the
kitchen sink, when it was located beside it), now I flush it out
into the flower bed in the garden.

It helps to do this more when the water pressure is at its highest,
late at night. I suppose this doesn't make much sense in the grand
scheme of things though!

Good, you've eliminated that as an issue! I just wondered whether
this was a significant deadleg that could be a cause of the problem.
It's frequency of use seems to eliminate it as well. I can
appreciate why you get the best flushing effect when the pressure is
high - that makes sense. You will be able to slough off a greater
amount of film that may be developing in both the main and service
pipe.

I guess the neighbours have got used to your midnight capers in the
garden!

Any opinion on whether I should go the 'disinfecting of service pipe
route?' It seems as if it is possible to do this, hard work, but not
expensive. With the plentiful amount of houses around the
neighbourhood and the road, the main surely gets enough flow to clean
it pretty well.

You are only going to get temporary relief, I'm afraid. It might attract
the interest of the Water Dept., if they thought that backsyphonage from
your activities into the main might affect the quality of water to your
neighbours! Could be double edged - "we'll have to do something about
his supply before this gets out of hand" sort of thing and also a stern
warning not to affect the quality of water in their main! Have you
googled plumbers/ water engineering contractors re air scour. I really
think that would be the way to go if possible. Could be a solution for
several years - but not permanent.

On 27 Sep, 18:13, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:49, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway, would
an air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our neighbours
are very closely all around us too, so I don't really think that
there would be much difference in our chlorine content tbh. The
water depot doesn't accept that we have a problem, saying our
test results back in June were 'clear.' The chlorine tested
very, very low, and that was no surprise as you can never smell
or taste it really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service
pipe though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some
googling for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like.
I've just been googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and could
not find anything - must admit I didn't go into every crevice.
It does not appear that the chlorine issue has not moved on
since I was involved in the potable supplies side of things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6
mg/l leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers'
taps would expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At
the level you are quoting, I would be concerned about the
potential for bacterial growth. What did the water dept. say
about 0.02? Do they have internal target minima? I would be
leaning on Dublin's water dept. with that sort of concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in the
area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water votes or
laws here it seems. It depends where you live I suppose. It seems
I got spectacularly unlucky on this one. What is strange is that
the quality can be good, but only after I turn off the outside
stopcock, pull out the washing machine hose in the garden shed, go
back out front and open the stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is in
the shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do you mean
the flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used and any other
details that seem relevant.

The washing machine is fed from the mains, is the last point of use
for the water downstairs, and is used at least once a day. It was
only installed there back in February, and we were having the same
problems beforehand. Yes, Im talking about a flexible cold supply
hose attached to the main line.

Back in December, I was replacing the old washing machine, and a
load of dark crud came out of the inlet cold pipe feed to it. It
was then that I began flushing out this pipe (originally into the
kitchen sink, when it was located beside it), now I flush it out
into the flower bed in the garden.

It helps to do this more when the water pressure is at its highest,
late at night. I suppose this doesn't make much sense in the grand
scheme of things though!

Good, you've eliminated that as an issue! I just wondered whether
this was a significant deadleg that could be a cause of the problem.
It's frequency of use seems to eliminate it as well. I can
appreciate why you get the best flushing effect when the pressure is
high - that makes sense. You will be able to slough off a greater
amount of film that may be developing in both the main and service
pipe.

I guess the neighbours have got used to your midnight capers in the
garden!

Any opinion on whether I should go the 'disinfecting of service pipe
route?' It seems as if it is possible to do this, hard work, but not
expensive. With the plentiful amount of houses around the
neighbourhood and the road, the main surely gets enough flow to clean
it pretty well.

You are only going to get temporary relief, I'm afraid. It might attract
the interest of the Water Dept., if they thought that backsyphonage from
your activities into the main might affect the quality of water to your
neighbours! Could be double edged - "we'll have to do something about
his supply before this gets out of hand" sort of thing and also a stern
warning not to affect the quality of water in their main! Have you
googled plumbers/ water engineering contractors re air scour. I really
think that would be the way to go if possible. Could be a solution for
several years - but not permanent.

But if the neighbours arent experiencing these problems(and our
neighbours to our left have their stopcock right beside ours!) surely
either fully disinfecting the pipe, or replacing it would have a good
effect?

None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 18:13, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:49, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway,
would an air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our
neighbours are very closely all around us too, so I don't
really think that there would be much difference in our
chlorine content tbh. The water depot doesn't accept that we
have a problem, saying our test results back in June were
'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very low, and that was no
surprise as you can never smell or taste it really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service
pipe though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some
googling for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like.
I've just been googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and
could not find anything - must admit I didn't go into every
crevice. It does not appear that the chlorine issue has not
moved on since I was involved in the potable supplies side of
things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6
mg/l leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers'
taps would expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At
the level you are quoting, I would be concerned about the
potential for bacterial growth. What did the water dept. say
about 0.02? Do they have internal target minima? I would be
leaning on Dublin's water dept. with that sort of
concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in
the area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water
votes or laws here it seems. It depends where you live I
suppose. It seems I got spectacularly unlucky on this one. What
is strange is that the quality can be good, but only after I
turn off the outside stopcock, pull out the washing machine
hose in the garden shed, go back out front and open the
stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is
in the shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do
you mean the flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used
and any other details that seem relevant.

The washing machine is fed from the mains, is the last point of
use for the water downstairs, and is used at least once a day. It
was only installed there back in February, and we were having the
same problems beforehand. Yes, Im talking about a flexible cold
supply hose attached to the main line.

Back in December, I was replacing the old washing machine, and a
load of dark crud came out of the inlet cold pipe feed to it. It
was then that I began flushing out this pipe (originally into the
kitchen sink, when it was located beside it), now I flush it out
into the flower bed in the garden.

It helps to do this more when the water pressure is at its
highest, late at night. I suppose this doesn't make much sense in
the grand scheme of things though!

Good, you've eliminated that as an issue! I just wondered whether
this was a significant deadleg that could be a cause of the
problem. It's frequency of use seems to eliminate it as well. I can
appreciate why you get the best flushing effect when the pressure
is high - that makes sense. You will be able to slough off a
greater amount of film that may be developing in both the main and
service pipe.

I guess the neighbours have got used to your midnight capers in the
garden!

Any opinion on whether I should go the 'disinfecting of service pipe
route?' It seems as if it is possible to do this, hard work, but not
expensive. With the plentiful amount of houses around the
neighbourhood and the road, the main surely gets enough flow to
clean it pretty well.

You are only going to get temporary relief, I'm afraid. It might
attract the interest of the Water Dept., if they thought that
backsyphonage from your activities into the main might affect the
quality of water to your neighbours! Could be double edged - "we'll
have to do something about his supply before this gets out of hand"
sort of thing and also a stern warning not to affect the quality of
water in their main! Have you googled plumbers/ water engineering
contractors re air scour. I really think that would be the way to go
if possible. Could be a solution for several years - but not
permanent.

But if the neighbours arent experiencing these problems(and our
neighbours to our left have their stopcock right beside ours!) surely
either fully disinfecting the pipe, or replacing it would have a good
effect?

Now that's something I don't recall in previous dialogue! Are your
houses of a similar age? Has your neighbour had his service pipe
replaced? Might not be so obvious in that it might have been replaced if
a new driveway was put in at some stage in the past as a result of a
burst when doing the work!

I don't want to jump to conclusions. What is the length of your service
pipe? Is it significantly longer than your neighbour's? This is
beginning to suggest that you might get relief from replacing your
service pipe, but let's be careful. I can't recall, did you tell me what
it is made of and how old it is? Are you certain that the stopcock in
the street only services your house? I don't know the layout and if you
are in a "town house" situation, you might be on a common feed to two or
three other houses.

"None" wrote in message
oups.com...
On 27 Sep, 13:57, "Doctor Drivel" wrote:
"None" wrote in message

oups.com...



On 27 Sep, 13:18, "Doctor Drivel" wrote:
"None" wrote in message

roups.com...

On 27 Sep, 11:05, wrote:
On 27 Sep,
None wrote:

By rising main I mean the supply pipe from the outside stopcock
(driveway) to the attic tank and kitchen sink. It is from a
public
mains supply, and the neighbours do not have this problem. When I
flush this pipe out through the back of the house at the highest
pressure possible, the water loses the 'sliminess.' There isn't
much
of a chlorine residual, it was tested very low (0.02 mg/l or
something), so that has probably contributed.

I just find it strange that when I do this, that the quality
improves
so much for a few days, then goes back to its previous state.

If you could isolate the pipe at the stopcock and fill it with a
chlorine
solution for a couple of hours, then thoroughly flush the pipe it
could
improve matters. What type of pipe is it, and who owns the
stopcock?
Is
it of
a WRC approved type, and could it be changed as well?

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

It seems to be black plastic LDPE type, I think, and measures 3/4
in.
Not sure what WRC approved means, sorry. We own the stopcock. How
could we enter the chlorine solution without breaking into the pipe?
It would be great to get this done with as little disruption as
possible.

You have LDPE enter the house from the street. I assume a stop cock in
the
garden or pavement. Inside the house another stop cock. From this
copper
pipe to the tank, cold kitchen tap, etc.

Disconnect the pipe after the stopcock into the house. Drain the
water.
Cap
up the pipe that runs into the house. From the tank pour the solution
down
the pipe. Leave and let the solution do its stuff.

The pipe from the underground stopcock to the house stopcock. You may
be
able to push a tube down this to the street stopcock. Blow down the
tube
and
the water comes out of the pipe back up around the pipe; well most of
it.
Again pour down solution. leave. Connect everything back up after and
flush
through, If it re-emerges then contact the water people as it is on
their
side.

My first reply didnt seem to go through. Basically two things
Doctor... firstly do you know what solution would be safe and
effective?

See Kamco, they would make the appropriate liquid.

And also regarding the tube, would it have to long enough
to actually reach the pavment stopcock from the kitchen??

I would think so, or as far down as you can get. You have to get the
water
out, or most of it, and then pour down the liquid.


The stopcock in the kitchen is tricky to access, being behind the
utensil drawers, that could be a pain...

How much solution (presumably chlorine tabs) would need to be poured
down? I mean the pipe length from kitchen to pavement must be about
25-30 feet.

Oh and finally, how long should I let the disinfectant 'do its stuff'
in such a lengthy set of pipe runs? Cheers.

I would contact one of the specialist chemical companies like Kalco.

In message , clot
writes
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 18:13, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:49, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

big snip

please people - trim your follow-ups

--
Si

On 27 Sep, 23:47, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 18:13, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:49, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway,
would an air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our
neighbours are very closely all around us too, so I don't
really think that there would be much difference in our
chlorine content tbh. The water depot doesn't accept that we
have a problem, saying our test results back in June were
'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very low, and that was no
surprise as you can never smell or taste it really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service
pipe though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some
googling for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like.
I've just been googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and
could not find anything - must admit I didn't go into every
crevice. It does not appear that the chlorine issue has not
moved on since I was involved in the potable supplies side of
things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6
mg/l leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers'
taps would expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At
the level you are quoting, I would be concerned about the
potential for bacterial growth. What did the water dept. say
about 0.02? Do they have internal target minima? I would be
leaning on Dublin's water dept. with that sort of
concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in
the area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water
votes or laws here it seems. It depends where you live I
suppose. It seems I got spectacularly unlucky on this one. What
is strange is that the quality can be good, but only after I
turn off the outside stopcock, pull out the washing machine
hose in the garden shed, go back out front and open the
stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is
in the shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do
you mean the flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used
and any other details that seem relevant.

The washing machine is fed from the mains, is the last point of
use for the water downstairs, and is used at least once a day. It
was only installed there back in February, and we were having the
same problems beforehand. Yes, Im talking about a flexible cold
supply hose attached to the main line.

Back in December, I was replacing the old washing machine, and a
load of dark crud came out of the inlet cold pipe feed to it. It
was then that I began flushing out this pipe (originally into the
kitchen sink, when it was located beside it), now I flush it out
into the flower bed in the garden.

It helps to do this more when the water pressure is at its
highest, late at night. I suppose this doesn't make much sense in
the grand scheme of things though!

Good, you've eliminated that as an issue! I just wondered whether
this was a significant deadleg that could be a cause of the
problem. It's frequency of use seems to eliminate it as well. I can
appreciate why you get the best flushing effect when the pressure
is high - that makes sense. You will be able to slough off a
greater amount of film that may be developing in both the main and
service pipe.

I guess the neighbours have got used to your midnight capers in the
garden!

Any opinion on whether I should go the 'disinfecting of service pipe
route?' It seems as if it is possible to do this, hard work, but not
expensive. With the plentiful amount of houses around the
neighbourhood and the road, the main surely gets enough flow to
clean it pretty well.

You are only going to get temporary relief, I'm afraid. It might
attract the interest of the Water Dept., if they thought that
backsyphonage from your activities into the main might affect the
quality of water to your neighbours! Could be double edged - "we'll
have to do something about his supply before this gets out of hand"
sort of thing and also a stern warning not to affect the quality of
water in their main! Have you googled plumbers/ water engineering
contractors re air scour. I really think that would be the way to go
if possible. Could be a solution for several years - but not
permanent.

But if the neighbours arent experiencing these problems(and our
neighbours to our left have their stopcock right beside ours!) surely
either fully disinfecting the pipe, or replacing it would have a good
effect?

Now that's something I don't recall in previous dialogue! Are your
houses of a similar age? Has your neighbour had his service pipe
replaced? Might not be so obvious in that it might have been replaced if
a new driveway was put in at some stage in the past as a result of a
burst when doing the work!

I don't want to jump to conclusions. What is the length of your service
pipe? Is it significantly longer than your neighbour's? This is
beginning to suggest that you might get relief from replacing your
service pipe, but let's be careful. I can't recall, did you tell me what
it is made of and how old it is? Are you certain that the stopcock in
the street only services your house? I don't know the layout and if you
are in a "town house" situation, you might be on a common feed to two or
three other houses.

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.

On Sep 28, 10:39 am, None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 23:47, "clot" wrote:



None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 18:13, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:49, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway,
would an air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our
neighbours are very closely all around us too, so I don't
really think that there would be much difference in our
chlorine content tbh. The water depot doesn't accept that we
have a problem, saying our test results back in June were
'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very low, and that was no
surprise as you can never smell or taste it really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual service
pipe though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some
googling for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like.
I've just been googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and
could not find anything - must admit I didn't go into every
crevice. It does not appear that the chlorine issue has not
moved on since I was involved in the potable supplies side of
things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or 0.6
mg/l leaving the treatment works and from samples in customers'
taps would expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as a minimum. At
the level you are quoting, I would be concerned about the
potential for bacterial growth. What did the water dept. say
about 0.02? Do they have internal target minima? I would be
leaning on Dublin's water dept. with that sort of
concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in
the area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water
votes or laws here it seems. It depends where you live I
suppose. It seems I got spectacularly unlucky on this one. What
is strange is that the quality can be good, but only after I
turn off the outside stopcock, pull out the washing machine
hose in the garden shed, go back out front and open the
stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is
in the shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do
you mean the flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used
and any other details that seem relevant.

The washing machine is fed from the mains, is the last point of
use for the water downstairs, and is used at least once a day. It
was only installed there back in February, and we were having the
same problems beforehand. Yes, Im talking about a flexible cold
supply hose attached to the main line.

Back in December, I was replacing the old washing machine, and a
load of dark crud came out of the inlet cold pipe feed to it. It
was then that I began flushing out this pipe (originally into the
kitchen sink, when it was located beside it), now I flush it out
into the flower bed in the garden.

It helps to do this more when the water pressure is at its
highest, late at night. I suppose this doesn't make much sense in
the grand scheme of things though!

Good, you've eliminated that as an issue! I just wondered whether
this was a significant deadleg that could be a cause of the
problem. It's frequency of use seems to eliminate it as well. I can
appreciate why you get the best flushing effect when the pressure
is high - that makes sense. You will be able to slough off a
greater amount of film that may be developing in both the main and
service pipe.

I guess the neighbours have got used to your midnight capers in the
garden!

Any opinion on whether I should go the 'disinfecting of service pipe
route?' It seems as if it is possible to do this, hard work, but not
expensive. With the plentiful amount of houses around the
neighbourhood and the road, the main surely gets enough flow to
clean it pretty well.

You are only going to get temporary relief, I'm afraid. It might
attract the interest of the Water Dept., if they thought that
backsyphonage from your activities into the main might affect the
quality of water to your neighbours! Could be double edged - "we'll
have to do something about his supply before this gets out of hand"
sort of thing and also a stern warning not to affect the quality of
water in their main! Have you googled plumbers/ water engineering
contractors re air scour. I really think that would be the way to go
if possible. Could be a solution for several years - but not
permanent.

But if the neighbours arent experiencing these problems(and our
neighbours to our left have their stopcock right beside ours!) surely
either fully disinfecting the pipe, or replacing it would have a good
effect?

Now that's something I don't recall in previous dialogue! Are your
houses of a similar age? Has your neighbour had his service pipe
replaced? Might not be so obvious in that it might have been replaced if
a new driveway was put in at some stage in the past as a result of a
burst when doing the work!

I don't want to jump to conclusions. What is the length of your service
pipe? Is it significantly longer than your neighbour's? This is
beginning to suggest that you might get relief from replacing your
service pipe, but let's be careful. I can't recall, did you tell me what
it is made of and how old it is? Are you certain that the stopcock in
the street only services your house? I don't know the layout and if you
are in a "town house" situation, you might be on a common feed to two or
three other houses.

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.

Calling clot...

None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 23:47, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 18:13, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:49, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:34, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 17:08, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 16:17, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On 27 Sep, 00:16, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:

snip

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway,
would an air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our
neighbours are very closely all around us too, so I don't
really think that there would be much difference in our
chlorine content tbh. The water depot doesn't accept that we
have a problem, saying our test results back in June were
'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very low, and that was no
surprise as you can never smell or taste it really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual
service pipe though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some
googling for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like.
I've just been googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and
could not find anything - must admit I didn't go into every
crevice. It does not appear that the chlorine issue has not
moved on since I was involved in the potable supplies side of
things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or
0.6 mg/l leaving the treatment works and from samples in
customers' taps would expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as
a minimum. At the level you are quoting, I would be
concerned about the potential for bacterial growth. What did
the water dept. say about 0.02? Do they have internal target
minima? I would be leaning on Dublin's water dept. with that
sort of concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in
the area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water
votes or laws here it seems. It depends where you live I
suppose. It seems I got spectacularly unlucky on this one.
What is strange is that the quality can be good, but only
after I turn off the outside stopcock, pull out the washing
machine hose in the garden shed, go back out front and open
the stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is
in the shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do
you mean the flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used
and any other details that seem relevant.

The washing machine is fed from the mains, is the last point of
use for the water downstairs, and is used at least once a day.
It was only installed there back in February, and we were
having the same problems beforehand. Yes, Im talking about a
flexible cold supply hose attached to the main line.

Back in December, I was replacing the old washing machine, and a
load of dark crud came out of the inlet cold pipe feed to it. It
was then that I began flushing out this pipe (originally into
the kitchen sink, when it was located beside it), now I flush
it out into the flower bed in the garden.

It helps to do this more when the water pressure is at its
highest, late at night. I suppose this doesn't make much sense
in the grand scheme of things though!

Good, you've eliminated that as an issue! I just wondered whether
this was a significant deadleg that could be a cause of the
problem. It's frequency of use seems to eliminate it as well. I
can appreciate why you get the best flushing effect when the
pressure is high - that makes sense. You will be able to slough
off a greater amount of film that may be developing in both the
main and service pipe.

I guess the neighbours have got used to your midnight capers in
the garden!

Any opinion on whether I should go the 'disinfecting of service
pipe route?' It seems as if it is possible to do this, hard work,
but not expensive. With the plentiful amount of houses around the
neighbourhood and the road, the main surely gets enough flow to
clean it pretty well.

You are only going to get temporary relief, I'm afraid. It might
attract the interest of the Water Dept., if they thought that
backsyphonage from your activities into the main might affect the
quality of water to your neighbours! Could be double edged - "we'll
have to do something about his supply before this gets out of hand"
sort of thing and also a stern warning not to affect the quality of
water in their main! Have you googled plumbers/ water engineering
contractors re air scour. I really think that would be the way to
go if possible. Could be a solution for several years - but not
permanent.

But if the neighbours arent experiencing these problems(and our
neighbours to our left have their stopcock right beside ours!)
surely either fully disinfecting the pipe, or replacing it would
have a good effect?

Now that's something I don't recall in previous dialogue! Are your
houses of a similar age? Has your neighbour had his service pipe
replaced? Might not be so obvious in that it might have been
replaced if a new driveway was put in at some stage in the past as a
result of a burst when doing the work!

I don't want to jump to conclusions. What is the length of your
service pipe? Is it significantly longer than your neighbour's? This
is beginning to suggest that you might get relief from replacing your
service pipe, but let's be careful. I can't recall, did you tell me
what it is made of and how old it is? Are you certain that the
stopcock in the street only services your house? I don't know the
layout and if you are in a "town house" situation, you might be on a
common feed to two or three other houses.

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?

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

snip

Hi clot,
Yeah I didnt actually check your name either, lol. Anyway,
would an air scour involve much disruption to the road? Our
neighbours are very closely all around us too, so I don't
really think that there would be much difference in our
chlorine content tbh. The water depot doesn't accept that we
have a problem, saying our test results back in June were
'clear.' The chlorine tested very, very low, and that was no
surprise as you can never smell or taste it really.

Would it even be possible to air scour our individual
service pipe though?

Hi,

I honestly don't know I'm afraid. Might be time to do some
googling for "air scour"/ plumbing contractors and the like.
I've just been googling for chlorine guidelines in E&W and
could not find anything - must admit I didn't go into every
crevice. It does not appear that the chlorine issue has not
moved on since I was involved in the potable supplies side of
things.

I seem to remember that we set a standard of either 0.4 or
0.6 mg/l leaving the treatment works and from samples in
customers' taps would expect a concentration of 0.1 mg/l as
a minimum. At the level you are quoting, I would be
concerned about the potential for bacterial growth. What did
the water dept. say about 0.02? Do they have internal target
minima? I would be leaning on Dublin's water dept. with that
sort of concentration.

They dismissed my notion of introducing a chlorine booster in
the area, didn't even comment on it really. We have no water
votes or laws here it seems. It depends where you live I
suppose. It seems I got spectacularly unlucky on this one.
What is strange is that the quality can be good, but only
after I turn off the outside stopcock, pull out the washing
machine hose in the garden shed, go back out front and open
the stopcock again.

Can you explain this bit in more detail? The washing machine is
in the shed - how is it fed? Length and diameter of pipe? Do
you mean the flexible cold supply hose? How often is this used
and any other details that seem relevant.

The washing machine is fed from the mains, is the last point of
use for the water downstairs, and is used at least once a day.
It was only installed there back in February, and we were
having the same problems beforehand. Yes, Im talking about a
flexible cold supply hose attached to the main line.

Back in December, I was replacing the old washing machine, and a
load of dark crud came out of the inlet cold pipe feed to it. It
was then that I began flushing out this pipe (originally into
the kitchen sink, when it was located beside it), now I flush
it out into the flower bed in the garden.

It helps to do this more when the water pressure is at its
highest, late at night. I suppose this doesn't make much sense
in the grand scheme of things though!

Good, you've eliminated that as an issue! I just wondered whether
this was a significant deadleg that could be a cause of the
problem. It's frequency of use seems to eliminate it as well. I
can appreciate why you get the best flushing effect when the
pressure is high - that makes sense. You will be able to slough
off a greater amount of film that may be developing in both the
main and service pipe.

I guess the neighbours have got used to your midnight capers in
the garden!

Any opinion on whether I should go the 'disinfecting of service
pipe route?' It seems as if it is possible to do this, hard work,
but not expensive. With the plentiful amount of houses around the
neighbourhood and the road, the main surely gets enough flow to
clean it pretty well.

You are only going to get temporary relief, I'm afraid. It might
attract the interest of the Water Dept., if they thought that
backsyphonage from your activities into the main might affect the
quality of water to your neighbours! Could be double edged - "we'll
have to do something about his supply before this gets out of hand"
sort of thing and also a stern warning not to affect the quality of
water in their main! Have you googled plumbers/ water engineering
contractors re air scour. I really think that would be the way to
go if possible. Could be a solution for several years - but not
permanent.

But if the neighbours arent experiencing these problems(and our
neighbours to our left have their stopcock right beside ours!)
surely either fully disinfecting the pipe, or replacing it would
have a good effect?

Now that's something I don't recall in previous dialogue! Are your
houses of a similar age? Has your neighbour had his service pipe
replaced? Might not be so obvious in that it might have been
replaced if a new driveway was put in at some stage in the past as a
result of a burst when doing the work!

I don't want to jump to conclusions. What is the length of your
service pipe? Is it significantly longer than your neighbour's? This
is beginning to suggest that you might get relief from replacing your
service pipe, but let's be careful. I can't recall, did you tell me
what it is made of and how old it is? Are you certain that the
stopcock in the street only services your house? I don't know the
layout and if you are in a "town house" situation, you might be on a
common feed to two or three other houses.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

On Sep 29, 5:11 pm, wrote:
On 29 Sep,
wrote:

I would have a go at chlorine disinfection first. It is supposed to be done
on new installations, but seems to be rarely done. I'd try taking off the
internal stopcock, and trying to feed a small plastic pipe (as used for
syphoning beer -- but longer) through the main as far as the outside
stopcock and using a funnel to fill the pipe with chlorinated water. There
are guidelines on how long and what strength solution to use, I think it is
100 ppm but ICBW, it's on the web somewhere.

Found some details, it's in BS6700 if you can find it.

http://iphe.org.uk/databyte/disinfection.pdf

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

Thanks for that mate, I dunno, looks like a tricky thing to get done.
The difficult part is getting the water out of the pipe before I
start, as well as finding a suitable pipe to insert.

On Sep 29, 5:33 pm, None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:11 pm, wrote:



On 29 Sep,
wrote:

I would have a go at chlorine disinfection first. It is supposed to be done
on new installations, but seems to be rarely done. I'd try taking off the
internal stopcock, and trying to feed a small plastic pipe (as used for
syphoning beer -- but longer) through the main as far as the outside
stopcock and using a funnel to fill the pipe with chlorinated water. There
are guidelines on how long and what strength solution to use, I think it is
100 ppm but ICBW, it's on the web somewhere.

Found some details, it's in BS6700 if you can find it.

http://iphe.org.uk/databyte/disinfection.pdf

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

Thanks for that mate, I dunno, looks like a tricky thing to get done.
The difficult part is getting the water out of the pipe before I
start, as well as finding a suitable pipe to insert.

Hey clot, hope youre around... would there be any good indications on
the street that the house is located on a balance point? I would have
thought that it would depend on water demand, so at some points in the
day the water could be 'balancing' outside one part of the street, and
at other times when the demand becomes greater on another part of the
road, it changes again?

None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:33 pm, None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:11 pm, wrote:



On 29 Sep,
wrote:

I would have a go at chlorine disinfection first. It is supposed
to be done on new installations, but seems to be rarely done. I'd
try taking off the internal stopcock, and trying to feed a small
plastic pipe (as used for syphoning beer -- but longer) through
the main as far as the outside stopcock and using a funnel to fill
the pipe with chlorinated water. There are guidelines on how long
and what strength solution to use, I think it is 100 ppm but ICBW,
it's on the web somewhere.

Found some details, it's in BS6700 if you can find it.

http://iphe.org.uk/databyte/disinfection.pdf

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

Thanks for that mate, I dunno, looks like a tricky thing to get done.
The difficult part is getting the water out of the pipe before I
start, as well as finding a suitable pipe to insert.

Hey clot, hope youre around... would there be any good indications on
the street that the house is located on a balance point? I would have
thought that it would depend on water demand, so at some points in the
day the water could be 'balancing' outside one part of the street, and
at other times when the demand becomes greater on another part of the
road, it changes again?

You're right. It does slosh about depending on demand. The best
indicator is the chlorine content; i.e. the lower the concentration, the
older the water and hence indicates the likely balance point.

On Oct 4, 1:52 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:33 pm, None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:11 pm, wrote:

On 29 Sep,
wrote:

I would have a go at chlorine disinfection first. It is supposed
to be done on new installations, but seems to be rarely done. I'd
try taking off the internal stopcock, and trying to feed a small
plastic pipe (as used for syphoning beer -- but longer) through
the main as far as the outside stopcock and using a funnel to fill
the pipe with chlorinated water. There are guidelines on how long
and what strength solution to use, I think it is 100 ppm but ICBW,
it's on the web somewhere.

Found some details, it's in BS6700 if you can find it.

http://iphe.org.uk/databyte/disinfection.pdf

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

Thanks for that mate, I dunno, looks like a tricky thing to get done.
The difficult part is getting the water out of the pipe before I
start, as well as finding a suitable pipe to insert.

Hey clot, hope youre around... would there be any good indications on
the street that the house is located on a balance point? I would have
thought that it would depend on water demand, so at some points in the
day the water could be 'balancing' outside one part of the street, and
at other times when the demand becomes greater on another part of the
road, it changes again?

You're right. It does slosh about depending on demand. The best
indicator is the chlorine content; i.e. the lower the concentration, the
older the water and hence indicates the likely balance point.

Its just that with our chlorine so low, surely this affects a fair bit
of our area and not just one or two houses? There are about 20 houses
on my side of the road, and another 15 or so on the other... we're
part of a large housing area with the same water supply source. I
can't imagine that if our chlorine is generally so low, that other
houses have a much better level, and they dont seem to have the
problems we do. I did disinfect the attic tank and hot tank with a bit
of domestos (no worry, I flushed very well afterwards!) and the amount
of algae that came out of particularly the hot tap after was very
disturbing. I would need to do it again thoroughly to see how much
more I can purge, but its difficult to find a good time to do this.

None wrote:
On Oct 4, 1:52 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:33 pm, None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:11 pm, wrote:

On 29 Sep,
wrote:

I would have a go at chlorine disinfection first. It is supposed
to be done on new installations, but seems to be rarely done. I'd
try taking off the internal stopcock, and trying to feed a small
plastic pipe (as used for syphoning beer -- but longer) through
the main as far as the outside stopcock and using a funnel to
fill the pipe with chlorinated water. There are guidelines on
how long and what strength solution to use, I think it is 100
ppm but ICBW, it's on the web somewhere.

Found some details, it's in BS6700 if you can find it.

http://iphe.org.uk/databyte/disinfection.pdf

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

Thanks for that mate, I dunno, looks like a tricky thing to get
done. The difficult part is getting the water out of the pipe
before I start, as well as finding a suitable pipe to insert.

Hey clot, hope youre around... would there be any good indications
on the street that the house is located on a balance point? I would
have thought that it would depend on water demand, so at some
points in the day the water could be 'balancing' outside one part
of the street, and at other times when the demand becomes greater
on another part of the road, it changes again?

You're right. It does slosh about depending on demand. The best
indicator is the chlorine content; i.e. the lower the concentration,
the older the water and hence indicates the likely balance point.

Its just that with our chlorine so low, surely this affects a fair bit
of our area and not just one or two houses? There are about 20 houses
on my side of the road, and another 15 or so on the other... we're
part of a large housing area with the same water supply source. I
can't imagine that if our chlorine is generally so low, that other
houses have a much better level, and they dont seem to have the
problems we do. I did disinfect the attic tank and hot tank with a bit
of domestos (no worry, I flushed very well afterwards!) and the amount
of algae that came out of particularly the hot tap after was very
disturbing. I would need to do it again thoroughly to see how much
more I can purge, but its difficult to find a good time to do this.

Yes, the low chlorine would affect others in the street. However, from
what you have just said, there appears to be a fungal/ bacterial film
growing in your system that will soak up the chlorine. It shouldn't be
algae, by the way. They need sunlight to grow. I really am puzzled as to
why you are so inflicted.

From what you've said, another thorough cleaning/ flushing of the tanks
will help. However, that will not affect the quality of cold water in
the taps, assuming that they are all direct off the service pipe.

On Oct 5, 12:08 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Oct 4, 1:52 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:33 pm, None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:11 pm, wrote:

On 29 Sep,
wrote:

I would have a go at chlorine disinfection first. It is supposed
to be done on new installations, but seems to be rarely done. I'd
try taking off the internal stopcock, and trying to feed a small
plastic pipe (as used for syphoning beer -- but longer) through
the main as far as the outside stopcock and using a funnel to
fill the pipe with chlorinated water. There are guidelines on
how long and what strength solution to use, I think it is 100
ppm but ICBW, it's on the web somewhere.

Found some details, it's in BS6700 if you can find it.

http://iphe.org.uk/databyte/disinfection.pdf

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

Thanks for that mate, I dunno, looks like a tricky thing to get
done. The difficult part is getting the water out of the pipe
before I start, as well as finding a suitable pipe to insert.

Hey clot, hope youre around... would there be any good indications
on the street that the house is located on a balance point? I would
have thought that it would depend on water demand, so at some
points in the day the water could be 'balancing' outside one part
of the street, and at other times when the demand becomes greater
on another part of the road, it changes again?

You're right. It does slosh about depending on demand. The best
indicator is the chlorine content; i.e. the lower the concentration,
the older the water and hence indicates the likely balance point.

Its just that with our chlorine so low, surely this affects a fair bit
of our area and not just one or two houses? There are about 20 houses
on my side of the road, and another 15 or so on the other... we're
part of a large housing area with the same water supply source. I
can't imagine that if our chlorine is generally so low, that other
houses have a much better level, and they dont seem to have the
problems we do. I did disinfect the attic tank and hot tank with a bit
of domestos (no worry, I flushed very well afterwards!) and the amount
of algae that came out of particularly the hot tap after was very
disturbing. I would need to do it again thoroughly to see how much
more I can purge, but its difficult to find a good time to do this.

Yes, the low chlorine would affect others in the street. However, from
what you have just said, there appears to be a fungal/ bacterial film
growing in your system that will soak up the chlorine. It shouldn't be
algae, by the way. They need sunlight to grow. I really am puzzled as to
why you are so inflicted.

From what you've said, another thorough cleaning/ flushing of the tanks
will help. However, that will not affect the quality of cold water in
the taps, assuming that they are all direct off the service pipe.

I had certainly thought that the chlorine could be being soaked up....
you can smell the chlorine a bit more late at night I have noticed.
Not sure why that is. Do you have any idea what could be used to 'air
flush' our service pipe? A compressor perhaps? It really is a
difficult thing to find time for, and tough to get people to do it.

None wrote:
On Oct 5, 12:08 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Oct 4, 1:52 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:33 pm, None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:11 pm, wrote:

On 29 Sep,
wrote:

I would have a go at chlorine disinfection first. It is
supposed to be done on new installations, but seems to be
rarely done. I'd try taking off the internal stopcock, and
trying to feed a small plastic pipe (as used for syphoning
beer -- but longer) through the main as far as the outside
stopcock and using a funnel to fill the pipe with chlorinated
water. There are guidelines on how long and what strength
solution to use, I think it is 100 ppm but ICBW, it's on the
web somewhere.

Found some details, it's in BS6700 if you can find it.

http://iphe.org.uk/databyte/disinfection.pdf

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

Thanks for that mate, I dunno, looks like a tricky thing to get
done. The difficult part is getting the water out of the pipe
before I start, as well as finding a suitable pipe to insert.

Hey clot, hope youre around... would there be any good indications
on the street that the house is located on a balance point? I
would have thought that it would depend on water demand, so at
some points in the day the water could be 'balancing' outside one
part of the street, and at other times when the demand becomes
greater on another part of the road, it changes again?

You're right. It does slosh about depending on demand. The best
indicator is the chlorine content; i.e. the lower the
concentration, the older the water and hence indicates the likely
balance point.

Its just that with our chlorine so low, surely this affects a fair
bit of our area and not just one or two houses? There are about 20
houses on my side of the road, and another 15 or so on the other...
we're part of a large housing area with the same water supply
source. I can't imagine that if our chlorine is generally so low,
that other houses have a much better level, and they dont seem to
have the problems we do. I did disinfect the attic tank and hot
tank with a bit of domestos (no worry, I flushed very well
afterwards!) and the amount of algae that came out of particularly
the hot tap after was very disturbing. I would need to do it again
thoroughly to see how much more I can purge, but its difficult to
find a good time to do this.

Yes, the low chlorine would affect others in the street. However,
from what you have just said, there appears to be a fungal/
bacterial film growing in your system that will soak up the
chlorine. It shouldn't be algae, by the way. They need sunlight to
grow. I really am puzzled as to why you are so inflicted.

From what you've said, another thorough cleaning/ flushing of the
tanks will help. However, that will not affect the quality of cold
water in the taps, assuming that they are all direct off the service
pipe.

I had certainly thought that the chlorine could be being soaked up....
you can smell the chlorine a bit more late at night I have noticed.
Not sure why that is. Do you have any idea what could be used to 'air
flush' our service pipe? A compressor perhaps? It really is a
difficult thing to find time for, and tough to get people to do it.

I'm sorry I don't. I just knew that it was one technique myformer
employer used to clear out mains and service pipes. I've not googled.
I'm off to an Annual Dinner this evening of water folk. I'll try to
remember to ask someone!

On Oct 5, 5:43 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Oct 5, 12:08 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Oct 4, 1:52 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:33 pm, None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:11 pm, wrote:

On 29 Sep,
wrote:

I would have a go at chlorine disinfection first. It is
supposed to be done on new installations, but seems to be
rarely done. I'd try taking off the internal stopcock, and
trying to feed a small plastic pipe (as used for syphoning
beer -- but longer) through the main as far as the outside
stopcock and using a funnel to fill the pipe with chlorinated
water. There are guidelines on how long and what strength
solution to use, I think it is 100 ppm but ICBW, it's on the
web somewhere.

Found some details, it's in BS6700 if you can find it.

http://iphe.org.uk/databyte/disinfection.pdf

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

Thanks for that mate, I dunno, looks like a tricky thing to get
done. The difficult part is getting the water out of the pipe
before I start, as well as finding a suitable pipe to insert.

Hey clot, hope youre around... would there be any good indications
on the street that the house is located on a balance point? I
would have thought that it would depend on water demand, so at
some points in the day the water could be 'balancing' outside one
part of the street, and at other times when the demand becomes
greater on another part of the road, it changes again?

You're right. It does slosh about depending on demand. The best
indicator is the chlorine content; i.e. the lower the
concentration, the older the water and hence indicates the likely
balance point.

Its just that with our chlorine so low, surely this affects a fair
bit of our area and not just one or two houses? There are about 20
houses on my side of the road, and another 15 or so on the other...
we're part of a large housing area with the same water supply
source. I can't imagine that if our chlorine is generally so low,
that other houses have a much better level, and they dont seem to
have the problems we do. I did disinfect the attic tank and hot
tank with a bit of domestos (no worry, I flushed very well
afterwards!) and the amount of algae that came out of particularly
the hot tap after was very disturbing. I would need to do it again
thoroughly to see how much more I can purge, but its difficult to
find a good time to do this.

Yes, the low chlorine would affect others in the street. However,
from what you have just said, there appears to be a fungal/
bacterial film growing in your system that will soak up the
chlorine. It shouldn't be algae, by the way. They need sunlight to
grow. I really am puzzled as to why you are so inflicted.

From what you've said, another thorough cleaning/ flushing of the
tanks will help. However, that will not affect the quality of cold
water in the taps, assuming that they are all direct off the service
pipe.

I had certainly thought that the chlorine could be being soaked up....
you can smell the chlorine a bit more late at night I have noticed.
Not sure why that is. Do you have any idea what could be used to 'air
flush' our service pipe? A compressor perhaps? It really is a
difficult thing to find time for, and tough to get people to do it.

I'm sorry I don't. I just knew that it was one technique myformer
employer used to clear out mains and service pipes. I've not googled.
I'm off to an Annual Dinner this evening of water folk. I'll try to
remember to ask someone!

Thanks clot, have a good one.

On Sep 26, 3:31 pm, None wrote:
Hello,

Basically we have a bacterial slime build up along our rising main,
which, when it flares up, makes our water slimy and horrible to wash
in/drink etc. It probably happened some years ago when the house was
left idle, ie stagnation occurred. The only thing that temporarily
helps is turning off the water at the outside stopcock, and back on
again after opening the garden tap. The water flows through at full
whack, and this clears the problem, albeit only for a few days...

Should I replace the whole rising main, or come up with something a
little more cost effective? Its doing me nut.

Hi,

If you get a 'Y' strainer installed after the rising main, this will
tell if the algae is from there or not.

If you have a garden hose which is left connected with the garden tap
on and hose nozzle off, it could be the source of the problem if the
tap has no non return valve.

cheers,
Pete.

"None" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Oct 5, 5:43 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Oct 5, 12:08 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Oct 4, 1:52 pm, "clot" wrote:
None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:33 pm, None wrote:
On Sep 29, 5:11 pm, wrote:

On 29 Sep,
wrote:

I would have a go at chlorine disinfection first. It is
supposed to be done on new installations, but seems to be
rarely done. I'd try taking off the internal stopcock, and
trying to feed a small plastic pipe (as used for syphoning
beer -- but longer) through the main as far as the outside
stopcock and using a funnel to fill the pipe with
chlorinated
water. There are guidelines on how long and what strength
solution to use, I think it is 100 ppm but ICBW, it's on the
web somewhere.

Found some details, it's in BS6700 if you can find it.

http://iphe.org.uk/databyte/disinfection.pdf

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

Thanks for that mate, I dunno, looks like a tricky thing to
get
done. The difficult part is getting the water out of the pipe
before I start, as well as finding a suitable pipe to insert.

Hey clot, hope youre around... would there be any good
indications
on the street that the house is located on a balance point? I
would have thought that it would depend on water demand, so at
some points in the day the water could be 'balancing' outside
one
part of the street, and at other times when the demand becomes
greater on another part of the road, it changes again?

You're right. It does slosh about depending on demand. The best
indicator is the chlorine content; i.e. the lower the
concentration, the older the water and hence indicates the
likely
balance point.

Its just that with our chlorine so low, surely this affects a
fair
bit of our area and not just one or two houses? There are about
20
houses on my side of the road, and another 15 or so on the
other...
we're part of a large housing area with the same water supply
source. I can't imagine that if our chlorine is generally so low,
that other houses have a much better level, and they dont seem to
have the problems we do. I did disinfect the attic tank and hot
tank with a bit of domestos (no worry, I flushed very well
afterwards!) and the amount of algae that came out of
particularly
the hot tap after was very disturbing. I would need to do it
again
thoroughly to see how much more I can purge, but its difficult to
find a good time to do this.

Yes, the low chlorine would affect others in the street. However,
from what you have just said, there appears to be a fungal/
bacterial film growing in your system that will soak up the
chlorine. It shouldn't be algae, by the way. They need sunlight to
grow. I really am puzzled as to why you are so inflicted.

From what you've said, another thorough cleaning/ flushing of the
tanks will help. However, that will not affect the quality of cold
water in the taps, assuming that they are all direct off the
service
pipe.

I had certainly thought that the chlorine could be being soaked
up....
you can smell the chlorine a bit more late at night I have noticed.
Not sure why that is. Do you have any idea what could be used to
'air
flush' our service pipe? A compressor perhaps? It really is a
difficult thing to find time for, and tough to get people to do it.

I'm sorry I don't. I just knew that it was one technique myformer
employer used to clear out mains and service pipes. I've not googled.
I'm off to an Annual Dinner this evening of water folk. I'll try to
remember to ask someone!

Thanks clot, have a good one.

Hi None, I did remember. However, the folk that I happened to be sat
with at the dinner were all wastewater types. I spied the guy I needed
to talk to re air scouring but by the time the formal part of the
evening finished, he escaped!

I'll try to ask some former colleagues by e-mail.