Mains water leak?

J

johnnyapple

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Anyone ever dealt with this? My problem's symptoms are: mud in attic tank (its covered, so wont be sawdust or dirt), small black particles in most glasses of water I fill up, and when I cleaned out the shower filter a while back, it had brown silt in there. Now its not like the water is brown or anything, but I'm sure that there must be a small leak somewhere under the driveway or side passage, where the water enters the house.

I asked the county council to send somebody over to check, someone came and fobbed me off. Basically he must have expected to see some sort of river in the street; all I wanted was for him to listen for an underground leak on my property. This has been going on for some years now, so its not an overnight problem, so cant be due to work being carried out on the mains.

Any help to offer me people?
 
My next door neighbour has just had tanks and hot water cylinder replaced because of dirt in the system. He tells me that he has a direct system and that gunge from the heating side crossses over into the hot water side. He has had the heating system power jetted to clear that out .
I have no way of knowing whether what it tells me is accurate or whether it has any possible connection with your problem, but the coincidence struck me as being possible.
Perhaps you should talk to a plumber to see if such a thing could be your problem.
Good luck anyway
 
The thing is, that wouldn't explain why the actual drinking water contains these soil particles and that it gradually accumulates in the attic tank,which then needs to be cleaned. Still, it could be another problem to look for, thanks for the reply.

Does anyone know how a house takes its water from the council main? I heard black plastic is used up to the stopcock. Before that I just thought that it was a big iron main underneath the ground. My house is about 30 years old, any ideas? I have certainly seen that its a black plastic pipe in the kitchen, would that connect all the way to the street, and if so, how likely would it be to develop leaks over time? There is a very slight yellowy green tint(and I mean very, but enough to notice... particularly in the bathroom) to the water also, if this is an indication of anything awry.
 
It could be of course that the main pipe needs to be flushed out. It is unlikely that soil would percolate into a mains pipe against the pressure of the water so I can't suggest how it gets in, but when I worked for water company here in UK the hydrants were opened periodically to flush out any soiling.

It would certainly seem that the main needs looking at, though I should point out that I wasn't on the technical side of the business.
 
I guess I will have to turn to a plumber. The water just has a very unhealthy look to it... which suggests that comtamination is occurring somewhere in the mains, and it feels as if it has sediment.
By the way, do you by any chance know how your neighbour realised he had a problem with dirt in his system? I.e. was it stumbled upon randomly, or was there a grimy look to the hot water? I may have to get my pipes etc cleaned, I'm not sure how common water jetting is here though.
 
Is the mains drinking water tap at the kitchen sink ok? Do you live in a soft water (acidic) area? If in doubt take a sample and have it tested- there are many commercial labs that will analyse this at a small cost. Soft water will cause metal pipework and tanks to break down over time and this will be evident in the water supplies. Otherwise it may be possible that your system could be suffering from a phenomenon known as "pitching"- where hot water from the overflow of the hot water cylinder is "pitching" into your cold water storage tank. This is a design problem and one that can be rectified by a good plumber. Your system can be cleaned and sterilised at very little cost and quite easily, assuming there are no major faults with the system.
 
I think he went up into the loft and had a look at the tanks. On holiday at the moment so can't get hold of him.
 
Carpenter said:
Is the mains drinking water tap at the kitchen sink ok? Do you live in a soft water (acidic) area? If in doubt take a sample and have it tested- there are many commercial labs that will analyse this at a small cost. Soft water will cause metal pipework and tanks to break down over time and this will be evident in the water supplies.

I doubt this is the issue, as the mains drinking water is the problem, and a water test showed us to have good water parameters regarding hardness, pH (not acidic), though it said there was a sediment issue. When the kitchen tap is pushed to its highest pressure, for every glass thats poured you get various small dark particles. When not pushed to highest pressure, generally you see nothing, though there is a colour off the water... not a rusty colour, more green against the light, quite noticeable. We are getting a new kitchen this month, plumber has said that the plumbing underneath the sink needs sorting badly.
This wouldn't really explain how muck is getting in, bit by bit and wreaking havoc on my washing machine and drinking water. The poor quality of the house's water is particularly noticeable to me when I come back from being away anywhere, its really awful. The attic tank has to be periodically cleaned too, as soil builds up in that. Surely a leak somewhere in the mains is sucking this in, no?


@ BillK, its alright, cheers for the help in any case. Maybe the above sheds more light on this to you, its confusing the heck out of me in any case.
Click to expand...
 
What is your neighbours' water like? Do any of them suffer from the same problems?
 
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