Brown Tap Water

[Lorenzo]

Last night we noticed brown water coming out of all three cold taps in the house (kitchen, and two bathroom). This morning all three are clear.

This is very confusing because I understood the kitchen tap to be fed directly from the main pipe, and the bathroom taps to be fed indirectly from the storage tank in the roof.

Can anyone explain why all three went brown, and then cleared almost straight away, all at the same time. Does this mean that all three are being fed from the mains, or from the tank?

Many thanks for any advice!

[cerberus]

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.

[Rob graham]

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

[shazzbat]

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

Steve

[barry makepeace]

[Lorenzo]

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.

[shazzbat]

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

[ARWadsworth]

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

Adam