Why does my water taste funny?
Why is there a metallic taste in my water?
Why is my water brown?
These are the common questions that haunt people who have to deal with rusty water. Rusty water is often caused by sediments in pipes or rust coming from inside the walls of your water mains. The water becomes discoloured in the process, and you may want to stop using rusty water for your laundry. Rusty water can also come from your water heater, especially when the anode rod, or the long metallic rod that prevents the rusting of the inner walls, becomes corroded itself. The water that’s being heated and then transported into your fixtures will now be carrying the taste, and possibly the colour, of rust.
But what causes rusty water exactly?
Water can be of varying colours depending on how light reflects on it, but, more often than not, we see water as transparent. When it does appear in various colours, the varying chemical oxidation of the rust in iron and even the varying concentrations of rust in the water are likely to have caused it.
Valves, water pump parts and water pumps tend to have bronze alloys of poor quality, and when they disintegrate they can cause rusty water too. This typically occurs in plumbing systems of tall buildings where pumps are necessary to bring water to storage tanks at the top.
Another cause of rusty water is the extreme corrosion of copper plumbing, especially when your electrical system is grounded to the water pipes. Grounding happens when you have copper and galvanized steel together. Traces of iron in water can be caused by water being supplied by a well that supplies the whole community. You can also consider the metal manganese as the cause of discolouration for water.
What can you do about rusty water?
You can solve your rusty water problem on your own, or you can hire a professional plumber to help you with that. The latter may cost you some, but it should still guarantee a better quality of work than any DIY solution.
