In my friends house all taps leave behind a green/blue residue overnight
if one of the kids or a visitor fails to turn the taps off completely.
(The taps "will" turn off properly but have "fashionable" small smooth
handles so a good grip is required to make sure there are no drips.)

All the plumbing system is High pressure with no loft storage tank and
the stain comes from both hot and cold taps.

See photo

http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/...pse77d5bd6.jpg

It is a hard water area with one of these disposable cartridge
conditioners (similar to but not exactly this)

http://www.tradingdepot.co.uk/DEF/pr...fDKxoCFUDw_wcB

fitted in the rising main near the stop cock.

My house is less than 400 yards away so I assume it has the same water
supply, it does not suffer this problem, but I do have a low pressure
feed to all except the kitchen sink.

Is this anything more than a minor irritant or is something seriously
wrong.


--
Chris

news wrote:
In my friends house all taps leave behind a green/blue residue overnight
if one of the kids or a visitor fails to turn the taps off completely.
(The taps "will" turn off properly but have "fashionable" small smooth
handles so a good grip is required to make sure there are no drips.)

All the plumbing system is High pressure with no loft storage tank and
the stain comes from both hot and cold taps.

See photo

http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/...pse77d5bd6.jpg


It is a hard water area with one of these disposable cartridge
conditioners (similar to but not exactly this)

http://www.tradingdepot.co.uk/DEF/pr...fDKxoCFUDw_wcB


fitted in the rising main near the stop cock.

My house is less than 400 yards away so I assume it has the same water
supply, it does not suffer this problem, but I do have a low pressure
feed to all except the kitchen sink.

Is this anything more than a minor irritant or is something seriously
wrong.


Green stains are associated with copper and nickel compounds (remember
your basic inorganic chemistry from school?)

I suspect the hard water (or aggressive cleaning agents) has taken off
some of the chrome from the taps (inside maybe) and the staining is
coming from there.
Maybe your taps are newer or the lower pressure and correct use turning
off fully means that you don't see this (yet!)

Also being close does not mean you have water from the same treatment
works. In the town where I live there are two water sources and
somewhere near neighbours are bound to be on different supplies.

"news" wrote in message
...
In my friends house all taps leave behind a green/blue residue overnight
if one of the kids or a visitor fails to turn the taps off completely.
(The taps "will" turn off properly but have "fashionable" small smooth
handles so a good grip is required to make sure there are no drips.)

All the plumbing system is High pressure with no loft storage tank and the
stain comes from both hot and cold taps.

See photo

http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/...pse77d5bd6.jpg

It is a hard water area with one of these disposable cartridge
conditioners (similar to but not exactly this)

http://www.tradingdepot.co.uk/DEF/pr...fDKxoCFUDw_wcB

fitted in the rising main near the stop cock.

My house is less than 400 yards away so I assume it has the same water
supply, it does not suffer this problem, but I do have a low pressure feed
to all except the kitchen sink.

Is this anything more than a minor irritant or is something seriously
wrong.

Dissolved CO2, SO2 and even H2S in the water attacks the copper pipes
forming copper carbonate, copper sulphate etc.
This gives the green stains. (Like outdoor copper roofs.)

Common in water from wells, springs and boreoles.
I had a spring at my last house.
Rotted away the copper pipe like fun.
Plastic pipe was the only answer. (Plus an open tank)

The copper salts are slightly poisonous, you should run off the overnight
standing water before drinking every morning.
Eg flush the toilet.

Open water tanks give the dissolved gasses chance to escape.
Water softeners sometimes release CO2 into the water so your cartridge may
be contributing to the problem/
CO2 is also released into the water as limescale is formed.

On 18/07/2014 17:21, harryagain wrote:
"news" wrote in message
...
In my friends house all taps leave behind a green/blue residue overnight
if one of the kids or a visitor fails to turn the taps off completely.
(The taps "will" turn off properly but have "fashionable" small smooth
handles so a good grip is required to make sure there are no drips.)

All the plumbing system is High pressure with no loft storage tank and the
stain comes from both hot and cold taps.

See photo

http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/...pse77d5bd6.jpg

It is a hard water area with one of these disposable cartridge
conditioners (similar to but not exactly this)

http://www.tradingdepot.co.uk/DEF/pr...fDKxoCFUDw_wcB

fitted in the rising main near the stop cock.

My house is less than 400 yards away so I assume it has the same water
supply, it does not suffer this problem, but I do have a low pressure feed
to all except the kitchen sink.

Is this anything more than a minor irritant or is something seriously
wrong.

Dissolved CO2, SO2 and even H2S in the water attacks the copper pipes
forming copper carbonate, copper sulphate etc.
This gives the green stains. (Like outdoor copper roofs.)

Common in water from wells, springs and boreoles.
I had a spring at my last house.
Rotted away the copper pipe like fun.
Plastic pipe was the only answer. (Plus an open tank)

The copper salts are slightly poisonous, you should run off the overnight
standing water before drinking every morning.
Eg flush the toilet.

Open water tanks give the dissolved gasses chance to escape.
Water softeners sometimes release CO2 into the water so your cartridge may
be contributing to the problem/
CO2 is also released into the water as limescale is formed.


Thanks to both for the responses.

--
Chris

On 18/07/2014 12:23, news wrote:
In my friends house all taps leave behind a green/blue residue overnight
if one of the kids or a visitor fails to turn the taps off completely.
(The taps "will" turn off properly but have "fashionable" small smooth
handles so a good grip is required to make sure there are no drips.)

All the plumbing system is High pressure with no loft storage tank and
the stain comes from both hot and cold taps.

See photo

http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/...pse77d5bd6.jpg

That looks like a classic case of aggressive water reacting with copper
components of the system. A common problem with private supplies, but
less common with public ones. Some private supply users even need to go
so far as to have ph balancing systems to does the incoming water into
an acceptable range.

Is this anything more than a minor irritant or is something seriously
wrong.

Might be worth consulting with the local water supplier and explaining
what is happening.

--
Cheers,

John.

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