Brown Tap Water

Cold water taps are usually fed from the mains.

Sometimes discolouration occurs when work has been done on nearby mains pipes by the waterboard.

Don.

If they all had the same symptom it surely means they come from the same source - presumably the mains. If you turn off the stop c*ck on the pipe entering the house (rising main) and this stops all cold water taps, then there's your answer.

Rob Graham

Don't turn your taps on at Halloween!!!

Steve

Thanks everyone. I phoned water board to make sure it was their problem to fix and not mine!! Yes there is some work somewhere nearby which might have caused it.

I think the conclusion is that all three taps must run off the mains and not the storage tank. I am pleased about that because the tank has no lid and is full of dead spiders, and inches of muck etc. I have always taken water from the kitchen for that reason.

Simple way to check - Turn the tap on, and try to stop the water flow by putting your thumb over the end of the tap. If you can, it's low pressure, therefore a gravity feed from the tank. If you can't, and you squirt water up the walls and curtains in the attempt, it's high pressure fed.

Steve

I would use the "turn the stop tap off and then try it method"

Adam