Hot-cold water color

[jw]

My neighbor and I live in double wides - they have electric HW heaters and all piping is plastic. Both heaters are not the originals as we had to replace them some time back.

He drained his heater the other day and got a lot of rust. Neither of us have any idea wherefrom the rust is coming.

In any case, that night I noticed my bathtub water was very cloudy, although the water had not been used yet. The next AM, I filled a wash basin with hot water, and it was cloudy too. Then I filled the adjacent basin with cold water, and it was as clear as could be.

So, I am wondering what is happening here. Is it anything I should worry about? Is the heater causing this somehow? How?

Thanks

Duke

[Ralph Mowery]

The water heater is causing the cloudy water. That is normal. Hot water will often look that way. Forgot the reason, but has something to do with the way the hot water and the ammount of air in the water. If yuo turn off the power to the water heater, then it will look like the cold water when it has had time to cool off.

[AZ Nomad]

It is from the oxidation of iron. In a rusting hot water heater.

There is nothing wrong with cloudy hot water. You really should learn how to use google. A clever search string like "cloudy hot water" would answer your questions.

[Salmon Egg]

Hot water tends to dispel gases. Cold water will often contain dissolved air. The normal bubbles of air that would be eliminated if the hot water was in an open container does not happen inside a tank. The air remains dissolved until the pressure gets relieved when the water goes out a faucet. Sort of like soda water.

Bill

[Van Chocstraw]

Looks like it's time to change the hot water tanks again. Some here say it's normal, not to me.

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, If water is hard water looks cloudy in hot water tank. Our watewr is hard. It's always like that.

[Malcolm Hoar]

Just let the water stand for 5 mins and check again. I think you'll find it's crystal clear.

You're looking at tiny bubbles of previously dissolved air and they will soon disappear. It's perfectly normal and does NOT indicate a problem with your water heater or plumbing.

We see it from time to time -- depends what's going on at the water company plant, the relative temperatures of the inside and outside air, ground etc.