Black bits in the bathwater

[Shirley]

For a while now we've noticed some black stuff coming out in the bath water. Haven't noticed it anywhere else - just from the bath tap.

If we've had a bath and not noticed, the bath is black afterwards from this stuff being swished around the bath. (It's not that we are that dirty honest )

I've just fished a couple of bits out - they are not big bits, but are soft and almost oily and have left black marks on my fingers.

We've got a water filter fitted at the main source as we were getting insects coming through the taps before.

Does anyone have any idea what this can be? It's a blooming nuisance and is very difficult to get off the bath afterwards.

edit to say that actually the stuff is a bit like a soft wax crayon stuff... and the black marks are like they've been drawn on.

[Muddypause]

It's a puzzle that it's only coming from the bath taps. Hot or cold, or both? If you run other taps, they're OK? How big are the bits, and how many?

What sort of hot water and central heating system do you have?

It may be worth having a look in the cold water tank in the attic, if you have one, though if anything was coming from there, I would expect it to affect other taps, too.

[Shirley]

Hi Muddy

We get our water direct from the well - it's pumped up using an electric pump and goes through a filter at point of entry to the house. There are no tanks. The prefilter is already very dark brown (some kind of crystals in there but can't remember what they are called - we didn't get any instructions with the filter either) and then a UV filter and a ph corrector because the water is very acidic.

The bits range in size - todays were say 2 x 1 mm but there have been bigger bits. Could it be the gunk that was in the pipes from BEFORE the filter gradually getting washed through? One piece did look like it could have been dislodged from a pipe because of the shape (like a rainbow shape). We do tend to have more showers than baths to keep our water usage down.

[Muddypause]

Could it be the gunk that was in the pipes from BEFORE the filter gradually getting washed through?

I reckon that's likely. Is it an open well - can anything get into it? But I guess you've checked that the filters are still intact, and not letting anything through. But an existing buildup of crud could be the cause - iIf you have no tanks (combi boiler?), it's hard to see how else stuff could be getting into the pipes.

I also reckon it could take ages to clear if it's only coming out a bit at a time.

[Shirley]

Thanks Stew! Yes, combi boiler.

Ahhh well... will just use a teastrainer to run the bath

[Dendrobium]

Is it a build up of mold inside the tap? We get something on it on the shower head where it stays wet, and had it just up inside the tap faucet

[Shirley]

I'll give it a wee scrape inside the end of the tap to see if that's the culprit. It usually has one of those white inserts in there but that's just fallen out... will go and check that now :D

**Tried that - it's as clean as a whistle.

[Boots]

Shirlz, that sounds like what happens with our loo. It is gravity fed from the dam tank, and as it is untreated water it carries with it lots of natural organisms that will 'grow' in any catchment, or place that the water catches.

If you have water sitting in those pipes, then the muck kind of works like a living filter... and will replace itself as it grows. Much like anything where untreated water is held. I found the worse thing I could do, was actually remove it. I get a build up inside the cistern, and the first thing I did was stick the dunny brush in there and try to scrub it out. Big mistake, as it upset the whole balance, became smelly and the water remained discoloured for ages until it re-established itself.

If you can give the pipes a good flush... turn the taps on full for a while and remove all the "dead bits", it might be right again for a while. But it will probably return in cycles, as the algae/mould (or whatever it actually is) regrows, and releases the dead bits.

[Karen_Grace]

Shirlz! I get the same thing! It grows in the taps. I've had it for years in both my hot and cold taps. I don't think it's harmful. Have you got a sort of rubber thing on the tap with holes in it? It grows on that. Sometimes I scrub it with the nail brush, and loads comes out. Same as the shower rose.

[the.fee.fairy]

you get the same thing on coke dispensers in pubs, its the stuff from the water, mixed with the remnants of the sugar and grows horribly.