smelly hot water!

[allred]

Hi all i hope somebody out there can help me

the problem i have is my hot water smells oily/ dusty when it comes out of the tap, i have drained the tank once to see if that helped but it did'nt make any difference.

I have a glow worm hideaway boiler that runs the hot water and c/ heating,

Just prior to the water starting to smell i had little black bits coming out of the taps occasionally when the bath was run i don't know if this is related,

The only disturbance to the system of late was when i fitted a new bathroom suite last summer but the problem has only begun recently

Please help

 

[taydo]

Did you clean your cold water tank when you drained it?
How old is your hot water cylinder

 

[allred]

Did you clean your cold water tank when you drained it?
How old is your hot water cylinder

It was the hot water tank i drained, but no i did'nt i just turned the water off and then let the taps run,

not sure how old the hot water tank/cylinder is only moved in in march last year, do you think thats where the prob lies?

 

[taydo]

if you only turned the cold of and let it run you have not drained the hot tank only the cold in loft.

you will need to clean the tank in the loft could be dead things in it once clean run for a few days and see what happens

 

[allred]

I turned the cold supply and stopped the supply that feeds the hot water tank so the tank could be emptied without refilling,

the cold water seems fine it's just the hot water that smells

 

[breezer]

MANY years ago we had really smelly hotwater, turned out a bird got into tank in loft, drowned and was decomposing

 

[COG]

If you have a hot water cylender turning off the water and running the taps just emptys the tank in the loft ( or above the cylender ), yoy need to empty the tank the drain the cylender,if no drain fitted you will have to syphon the contents out etc

 

[allred]

I will try everything thats been suggested and hopefully it will be ok,

incidentally if i do find something dead in the tank in the loft how would i go about cleaning the system through, do i have to use some kind of detergent flush?

 

[taydo]

Bubble Bath on tap.

Best not use wahing up liquid

I dont know anything that will do the job apart from either draining the cylinder or flushing through with water

 

[allred]

I will give it a go

Cheers Taydo,Cog and Breezer for your help

 

[masona]

the problem i have is my hot water smells oily/ dusty when it comes out of the tap,

I was wondering if you have a internal leak inside the coil bypassing to your hot water

 

[mave]

I was wondering if you have a internal leak inside the coil bypassing to your hot water

Sounds like the most likely cause to me.

 

[ollski]

Must admit It had crossed my mind too especially if there are descalers/inhibitor chemicals in the f&e tank.

 

[masona]

If allred took a water sample from the hot tap for testing,can you get a water test strips for testing descalers and inhibitor chemicals ?

 

[allred]

This is starting to sound expensive!!!

I have had another close look since i last posted and the layout of the system is as follows:

Small tank in the loft ( i assume for the radiators)
Plastic header tank in the airing cupboard above the hot water tank/cylinder, someone i know asked me to check if the system is a prismatic one, can anyone shed any light?