What makes green water stains?

[MorelCabin]

When we went to drain ours a year after moving in to the house in the country (on a well) nothing would come out of the drain at all. It had so much sludge in it. We changed it out and our water was excellent. Our neighbor here had the same problems, and we told him to change the tank, he did...and has great water now too.
Another thing you'll notice is your heating bill go down...yopu won't be trying to heat 2 ft of sludge anymore:>)
There is also a thingy in there ( my mind can't remember what it is called but it helps keep the tank clean...) Anyway it rots out over the years from hard water. Yours might be gone as well and that might be the only thing you have to replace...someone here probably knows what I'm taling about:>) LOL

 

[inchworm]

It IS the acidity of your well leaching copper out of pipes and appliances. At our old house, we had green stain in the shower, but never the toliet. The bad news is....you will eventually get pin hole leaks in your copper pipes somewhere in your walls or ceiling. Your appliances will also have a much shorter life span than houses with an acidity closer to neutral. To avoid, you will need to have a neutralizer installed. Trust me - you don't want a water leak in your ceiling!

Inchy

 

[Cassandra]

Ohhhh, if only they were in the ceiling... Then, we could get to them without digging up the house. As far as I can tell, all my pipes are buried under the house.

Most of the rental property that I manage is 30 years old or older. We have had to replumb... I think three of the houses in the last two years, but they were all on a traditional foundation with the pipes running in the crawl space. It costs about $100 per square foot of house. (i.e. $900 for a 900 sq. ft. house)

(dh) John & I have already discussed what we'd have to do if it comes to getting the house replumbed. Obviously we won't be replacing the existing pipe, we'll just have to divert the plumbing through the walls (or into the ceiling.)

Some of the apartments are built on slabs and there's one 4-plex in particular that has been having some nightmare plumbing problems lately. There was a broken pipe sort of between the foundation and the wall that the plumbers couldn't get to. I think they ended up wedging a length of new pipe into the old pipe, which I thought was pretty clever. And in spite of what you would think to the contrary, it seems to have worked.

But, trust me! I know all about plumbing catastrophes!!


Cassandra

 

[Beekissed]

There is also a thingy in there ( my mind can't remember what it is called but it helps keep the tank clean...) Anyway it rots out over the years from hard water. Yours might be gone as well and that might be the only thing you have to replace...someone here probably knows what I'm taling about:>) LOL

The only "thingy" I know of in a hotwater tank, is the heating element(s) but they don't keep it clean. Could this be what you are talking about? They will become corroded if you have hard water and have to be replaced in order for your tank to heat efficiently.

 

[Cassandra]

Hubby says our hot water heater is only about three years old. It shouldn't be corroded yet. But I think we are going to go tankless when it kicks the bucket.

Cassandra

 

[MorelCabin]

There is also a thingy in there ( my mind can't remember what it is called but it helps keep the tank clean...) Anyway it rots out over the years from hard water. Yours might be gone as well and that might be the only thing you have to replace...someone here probably knows what I'm taling about:>) LOL

The only "thingy" I know of in a hotwater tank, is the heating element(s) but they don't keep it clean. Could this be what you are talking about? They will become corroded if you have hard water and have to be replaced in order for your tank to heat efficiently.

Anode...that's what it's called. It's a little thing that keeps the tank from corroding because it draws the minerals and whatever to itself. You should change these every once in a while

 

[MorelCabin]

Hubby says our hot water heater is only about three years old. It shouldn't be corroded yet. But I think we are going to go tankless when it kicks the bucket.

Cassandra

We looked into tankless but were warned that with hard water we would be asking for trouble. Do some research on that aspect of it first.

 

[Cassandra]

Oh yeah, first things first. I think a de-acidifier and water softener are in our very near future, either way. One of each or a do-all unit if possible.

Cassandra