Replacing Rising Main?

[Doctor Drivel]

I would contact one of the specialist chemical companies like Kalco.

[Si]

[None]

All the houses in the general area were built at the same time, between 35 and 40 years ago. There are two stopcocks outside the front gate; one that belongs to our house and one that belongs to theirs. Our service pipe is of the black plastic variety, would have been put in at the time when the house was built. As far as I know they have the same pipe, but I could check. Our stopcock only serves us, I am sure of that.

[None]

Calling clot...

[clot]

Hmm. This is a puzzler! You didn't mention whether your service pipe is particularly lengthy by comparison with the others in the neighbourhood - I'm guessing not. Your neighbour's connection to the main is right beside yours so that whilst you my be on a balance point in the system, if your neighbour is not experiencing the same problem, it sounds like the issue does relate to your plumbing. Has there been much re-plumbing in the house, are there dead legs of redundant pipework that are filled with water?

[None]

Our service pipe would be about the same length as just about all of the houses around. I don't think we have any unusual plumbing features in the house; service pipe to kitchen sink and out to washing machine; after the kitchen sink it goes up to the attic tank, then to the upstairs and downstairs sinks/showers. When the water seems dirty up in the taps upstairs (it only ever goes a faint yellow/green colour when you it fills the basin, never brown or anything) and slimy etc, it will be the same story at the kitchen mains tap. We have had the house replumbed in certain parts due to getting some work done on the house, but the problems were the same before. The water used to be a lot worse though before I discovered 'flushing' both in the house and on the road (by the water depot).

Late last night, I decided to do one of my irritating 'washing machine flushes' like I explained in one of my recent posts. I let the water loose at full whack (our pressure probably isnt that good, but still decent) and also at the kitchen sink afterwards. This morning I then let the hot water tap run until the system had drained and the (hopefully) cleaner water came throughout the house. Lo and behold, the water is now much improved. It won't last of course.

Is it really likely that we are on a 'balance point?' There are so many houses on the road on both sides, and we are the fourth house on one side of the road as you enter. We have been told explicitly that we are not on a dead end either.

[clot]

Depending on how the district is supplied, the whole of the street could be on a balance point. The other poster's comments about chlorinating your supply is unlikely to be of much use I'm afraid. If you've got a biological film in the pipework then the solution is to remove that rather than just "killing it"for a while. It must be physically removed hence my comment about air scouring. I'd see if this was possible (and potential cost) compared to replacing the swervice pipe as a first step.

[None]

I cant find anything regarding air scouring in a domestic situation, I dont think plumbers really know of it. At this point I'm fairly certain that the problem is mostly on my side of the supply, but I don't seem to have any options. I don't think even replacing the service pipe would be an option because I think such things are heavily regulated by local authorities. It is just awful to have to live like this though, you feel worse after a shower than before you got in! The water can be drank, but only after a lot of flushing has been done, otherwise you're in for stomach troubles. F*ck this.

[clot]

I'm afraid I don't know what the legislation is in Ireland. In the UK, the customer is responsible for the service pipe from the stop tap in the footpath and can relay that though I'm not certain about the final connection to the stop tap. Sounds like another word with the Water Dept. to me. :(

[None]

Well, thanks ever so much for your advice. I think I will get on to my uncle and his crew of plumbing guys and see if they can lay a new pipe. I dread to think of the cost involved, and it will even be hard to convince them of the point in doing it.

[clot]

You're welcome. I hope that replacing the pipe resolves it for you. I can imagine you're going to have difficulty convincing your uncle and his mates of the need for this. Let us know how you get on.

[<me9]

I would have a go at chlorine disinfection first. It is supposed to be done on new installations, but seems to be rarely done. I'd try taking off the internal stopcock, and trying to feed a small plastic pipe (as used for syphoning beer -- but longer) through the main as far as the outside stopcock and using a funnel to fill the pipe with chlorinated water. There are guidelines on how long and what strength solution to use, I think it is 100 ppm but ICBW, it's on the web somewhere.

[<me9]

Found some details, it's in BS6700 if you can find it.

[None]

Thanks for that mate, I dunno, looks like a tricky thing to get done. The difficult part is getting the water out of the pipe before I start, as well as finding a suitable pipe to insert.

[None]

Hey clot, hope youre around... would there be any good indications on the street that the house is located on a balance point? I would have thought that it would depend on water demand, so at some points in the day the water could be 'balancing' outside one part of the street, and at other times when the demand becomes greater on another part of the road, it changes again?

[clot]

You're right. It does slosh about depending on demand. The best indicator is the chlorine content; i.e. the lower the concentration, the older the water and hence indicates the likely balance point.

[None]

Its just that with our chlorine so low, surely this affects a fair bit of our area and not just one or two houses? There are about 20 houses on my side of the road, and another 15 or so on the other... we're part of a large housing area with the same water supply source. I can't imagine that if our chlorine is generally so low, that other houses have a much better level, and they dont seem to have the problems we do. I did disinfect the attic tank and hot tank with a bit of domestos (no worry, I flushed very well afterwards!) and the amount of algae that came out of particularly the hot tap after was very disturbing. I would need to do it again thoroughly to see how much more I can purge, but its difficult to find a good time to do this.

[clot]

Yes, the low chlorine would affect others in the street. However, from what you have just said, there appears to be a fungal/ bacterial film growing in your system that will soak up the chlorine. It shouldn't be algae, by the way. They need sunlight to grow. I really am puzzled as to why you are so inflicted.

From what you've said, another thorough cleaning/ flushing of the tanks will help. However, that will not affect the quality of cold water in the taps, assuming that they are all direct off the service pipe. :(

[None]

I had certainly thought that the chlorine could be being soaked up.... you can smell the chlorine a bit more late at night I have noticed. Not sure why that is. Do you have any idea what could be used to 'air flush' our service pipe? A compressor perhaps? It really is a difficult thing to find time for, and tough to get people to do it.

[clot]

I'm sorry I don't. I just knew that it was one technique myformer employer used to clear out mains and service pipes. I've not googled. I'm off to an Annual Dinner this evening of water folk. I'll try to remember to ask someone!