black deposits in cold water pipe, washing machine, dishwasher, etc.

[Fred]

Hello,

Our dishwasher packed up and the chap that came to fix it showed me that the inlet pipe was furred up with a black deposit. He said it is not dirty water from the washer but the cold inlet from the mains!

Next door have a black deposit in their washing machine soap drawer. They think it is some sort of oxide from an iron water main. Is there any way to prevent this? Can you fit a filter on the mains to filter out these particles or, dare I suggest it, would a magnetic device attract the black and remove it?

Thanks.

[Phil L]

the only solution is to replace the water main.

The water board will connect you up for free, but you'll need to lay a pipe in a 1m deep trench from the property to the pavement and it needs to be inspected by the water board prior to backfilling. The pipe is quite cheap

[Fred]

I think the pipe to the property is ok, it looks like it's plastic and apparently the road was dug up to fit a new main the other year, so I guess this coming from further "downstream".