Discolored Water: Causes, Fixes & Prevention

What Are The Causes?

If you’ve been seeing discolored water coming out of your faucets, there are many reasons why this is happening. If the water is brownish, or yellowish in color, this is considered discolored water. Although it’s not necessarily a health risk, but it is a cause for a call to a professional plumber. One cause of discolored water can be a water heater. Even though, the water heaters today are well made and have glass lined tanks that are high-quality, sometimes it’s possible for them to have lining failure.

Build up of calcium deposits in your pipes can also be a cause of discolored water. Another cause of water discoloration can be rust in the pipes. If Rusty pipes are the culprit, that is something to worry about as rust is not something you want to ingest in your body by any means. If you are not completely sure what the cause of the discolored water problem is, it’s best to get a plumber on the job to diagnose the exact cause.

How Can It Be Fixed?
Discolored water, depending on the cause can be remedied or fixed several ways. If your water heater or storage tank is causing the problem, then you may need to have a new anode rod installed in your tank as the discolored water is a possible sign of anode failure. If you are suffering from Rusty pipes, replacement of the pipes would be the best solution to fix the problem.

If replacement of the pipes is not a possibility, due to the high cost, there are ways to clean the pipes, but maybe not sufficiently enough to rid you of the problem altogether. If you’re having calcium deposits build up in your pipes, there are several ways to remedy this. If the buildup is severe, replacement of the pipes, may be the only fix, as with rusty pipes.

How Do I Prevent It?

In order to prevent discolored water in the future, there are several things you can do. For discolored water caused by calcium deposits, you may need to replace the pipes, depending on the severity. A water softener machine would also be a great benefit to help prevent future buildup of calcium in your pipes. If your hot water heater was the culprit, have the parts replaced if needed, and have it regularly flushed.

If possible, upgrade to a newer and more efficient water heater to prevent future re-occurrences of discolored water. If Rusty pipes are your issue, replacing them with long-lasting pipes, as well as using a water softener to prevent calcium buildup, will help to prevent discolored water from your pipes in the future.

Bring in a plumber into your Winchester home to look over your plumbing system and make the necessary corrections. Call Powell’s Plumbing at 540-665-8196 today!