HELP! Plumbing problems Update for those interested.

[daughtersrus]

A few weeks ago, DH had to shut off the water to our house so that he could replace one of our outdoor shut-off valves. That project went fine but now we're having all kinds of problems

First, my dishwasher broke. The pump was just not spraying the water at the pressure needed to clean the dishes. I also noticed that my washing machine was taking forever to fill up with cold water. I did a little research online and found that the washing machine problem was most likely a clogged filter/screen where the water comes in.

We just figured that the dishwasher was old and had served it's purpose and bought a new one.

Saturday, DH installed the dishwasher and took a look at the washing machine as well. He had to shut off the main water again because he couldn't get the hot water at the kitchen sink to shut off completely. Sure enough, the screens on the hose as well as the machine were clogged with what looked like sand. We replaced both hoses to the washer and it works fine now.

The faucet in our powder room (first floor) has been spraying funny as well for the last week or so so DH took that apart as well. Again, it was clogged with what looks like sand.

OK, this is more than a coincidence now. DH decided just for the heck of it to look at the pump in the old dishwasher. It too, has these sand type particles in it. Last night DD is taking a shower in one of our bathrooms upstairs. Afterwards, she asked DH to take a look at the shower because the water pressure is very low both at the shower head and the hand-held shower head. That too, is full of this sandy substance.

Tonight he's going to look at the toilet in our master bath because it's filling very slowly and leaking water out of the seal in the tank as well as our faucet and shower head because of the low pressure.

We live in a suburb of Chicago. Our water used to come from a village well but several years ago they converted to "Chicago" water. Since then, we stopped using our water softener.

I'm worried that the pump in our new dishwasher is going to go out as well if this sandy substance gets in.

I put a call into the water company and they said that there haven't been any main problems in our area. They took a report and said that they would send it to their water quality department. They had me fill some water from the tub since there's not a filter on that but I don't see this substance in the glass.

I'm sure that it's some type of sediment that must have been caused from shutting off the main water but is that normal? I'm sure that this can't be good for our hot water heater or the humidifier.

Is there anything that we can do?

 

[daughtersrus]

I'm desperate!

I'm bumping this up to see if the "night" crowd has any ideas or suggestions.

 

[RNMOM]

This does sounds strange. Have you asked any of your neighbors if they are having difficulties as well?

If you can how about putting an in line water filter in place. It would be less expensive than replacing all those appliances again. I know we get some small granule type sediment in the faucets filters but it builds up slowly.

 

[JR6ooo4]

How old is the house?
Do you have copper pipes or galvanized?

You may have mineral sediment build-up in the pipes. Usually the horizontal pipes.

when you turned off the water and presumably emptied the system to work on whatever fixtures, then turned it back on... the water rushed through the pipes and broke free some of the sediment. Is it a redish color. Turn on the hot full blast, after having it off for a while, does it come out reddish?

I just installed a new faucet and the directions said that you should remove the aerators (the little screens), then turn on the water full so it flushes out the gunk for a few minutes, then put them back in. they don't tell you that most aerators are a flow reducer, so when you turn on the water full blast it is really full blast and sprays and splashes all over!

My dads galvanized pipes in his 1965 Northbrook home were about half full of crust.

My galv pipes in our 1958 Arlington Heights home were about 1/4 full of crust.

Mikeeee

 

[JR6ooo4]

we got an estimate of $1500 to replace all the horizontal pipes in our basement.

I did it for $250 in parts!

Mikeeee

 

[manning]

We live in darien since 1984. moved into a new house. At that time we were on well water. It was common practice to periodically drain the water heater. You would be surprised at the amount of sediment that accumulated. I think that is what you are seeing is from when you were on well water. Lake water is soft compared to the well water we had.

 

[daughtersrus]

Thank you for the replies!

Our house was built in 1988. Code requires that our pipes be copper. Before IL American took over, our water was from a village well, not an individual well.

We've never had rusty/orange water. I can wash my white clothes in hot water and they are fine. I know what you're talking about. At our old house, if it was raining, we couldnt' do laundry or take a bath because the water would be dark orange. It was horrible!

We replaced our hot water heater quite a few years ago. We do drain it every now and then and don't notice anything unusual. I don't think that it's the hot water tank though because it was the hose and filter to the cold water on the washer that was clogged, not the hot.

I did fill a clear glass with water from the tub since it doesn't have a screen on the spout and we're not seeing any of these sand particles in the glass. Of course, we used the shower in the tub already and the shower head is full of these pieces. The pieces that are getting caught look just like sand. Some are clear, some are dark black and some are clear orange/brown. They all have rounded edges and are not flakes.

I'm still waiting for a call from Illinois American Water. The rep that I spoke with said that he was writing up a report for the water quality department and said that someone would get back to me yesterday or today. We'll see!

 

[daughtersrus]

Update~

Illinois American Water just stopped by. The man took a look at everything and then checked our water softener. Apparently when we stopped using it a few years ago, DH unplugged it but didn't by-pass it. So, the water was going through the softener pipe. When he shut the water to the house off and then turned it back on, the pressure caused the resin screen to break loose and now what we're seeing is resin beads from the softener in our lines.

He said that the good news is that it's not the worse that he's seen. He looked at the shower head and said "that's all?". He was expecting worse.

The only way to get them out is to do one fixture at a time. We have to flush, not drain, the hot water heater. He suggested to check all of the toilets because these beads will get stuck in the tank and not allow the flap to close properly (our master bath is doing that right now). We shouldn't need to replace the insides of the tank, just clean out the beads.

He thought that the humidifier should be fine since we haven't have the furnace on for several weeks.

He said that it did seem odd that the cold water on the washer was the problem since the dishwasher's problem would have been with the hot water.

I just thought that I would update in case anyone was having similar issues and has been following the thread.

Thanks again for your help!