Bits floating in hot bath water

[btmod]

When I run the hot water for the bath or hand basin the water has lots of bits floating in it. They are the colour of oatmeal or straw. They only come from the hotwater tap not the cold.

I do not live in a hard water area.

Would draining the hot water sytem make any difference?

 

[taydo]

it is probably still scale from the hot water cylinder or pipes unless the cold tank is contaminated have a look.

 

[peter anderson]

What is the best way of removing scale from a hot water cylinder, cistern and pipes? Or is there no alternative to installing new cisterns, cylinders and pipes if the scale in them is causing a problem

Pete

 

[goodtohelp]

Its sounds like you have a lot of dirt in the cold storage tank, check by looking into the tank, if any, turn off stop cock to this tank clean tank out the best you can, eg remove all floating objects then open cold bath tap fully until tank is empty then close tap and refill storage tank as it is filling up rub around the inside of the tank with your hand to disturb the sediment then open tap again to flush it all out until it comes clear. Then put a lid on the tank to keep dirt out.

 

[sterose]

Its sounds like you have a lot of dirt in the cold storage tank, check by looking into the tank, if any, turn off stop cock to this tank clean tank out the best you can, eg remove all floating objects then open cold bath tap fully until tank is empty then close tap and refill storage tank as it is filling up rub around the inside of the tank with your hand to disturb the sediment then open tap again to flush it all out until it comes clear. Then put a lid on the tank to keep dirt out.

It best not to actually disturb the muck in the tank by rubbing it.

The best remedy for this, is just to empty the tanks (i.e. turn of the stopcock) and then turn all the hot taps on, and re-open the stopcock.

Dirty water will flow for a while, but should eventually become cleaner. I did this myself after I did some work, when I found that the water had turned fairly brown.

Incidentally, the water may not turn totally clear after flushing it, but if you get it as clean as you can, the remaining sediment will settle to the bottom of the tank again after a couple of hours, and the water should run clean again.

 

[wolfinwales]

A quick fix in the meantime is to put a strainer under the tap as you run a bath.

 

[masona]

What is the best way of removing scale from a hot water cylinder, cistern and pipes? Or is there no alternative to installing new cisterns, cylinders and pipes if the scale in them is causing a problem

I think the only way is to fit a waterscaler which these company claim to clean out all hard scale including cylinder but not overnight,see this for more info.