black algee in water system . what is it

bmx

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hi i am experiencing black algee or greesy residue. it is cloging up the taps and the shower head etc. its even in our little girls bath toys . what should i do about it? what is it?

ps i use a combi boiler , but it does come out of both taps. the cold seems to be worse, the filter in the combi doesnt seem to have any algee stuff in it which i thought was strange
 
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Are you sure it's actually coming out of the taps? Perhaps it's just forming on the tap outlets. If you're sure it's in the water you need to get in touch with your water company.

If it's not in the water, you need to have a thorough clean of everything with disinfectant and improve the heating and ventilation in the bathroom to reduce condensation and damp.
 
definately coming out of the terminal fittings. its been happening for about a year now
 
So why haven't you said anything to your water supplier? It could be affecting your health.
 
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never really thought like that.... i will phone them 1st thing on monday
 
Morning BMX,

I think i can answer your question regarding the black deposits you're getting in your taps and shower head.

Working for a water company, I visit customers who call with this type of query quite often.
From what your are describing, the black slime is something called "Geletanious growth". I plain english its a build up of non-harmful bacteria.

The ideal conditions for bacteria to grow are somewhere damp and warm..... and your bathroom is the perfect place to find both these conditions. After using your taps/shower, the inside of the taps/showerhead will obviously be damp and the room wil stay warm, and the bacteria think its time to breed. The first you know about it is when enough has grown and the flow of water dislodges the colony which you see come out of your tap as a black slimey deposit.

Don't worry though as this is easily sorted.
If you go and buy a decent mildew cleaner, the shower head can be soaked in, more than likely it will dismantle for easy cleaning.
Depending on what type of taps you you have depicts the method of cleaning them.

If they are old taps where you have no sprinkler in the outlet, you can get a small bottle brush, soak it in the mildew cleaner and give the taps a good scrub, then flush then both out buy running them at full flow for a couple of minutes.

If they have sprinklers in the end, these can be removed, normally by inserting a screw in the middle and pulling down with a pair of pliers, then clean as described above. Don't forget to clean the sprinkler as well.

Should you not fancy taking the sprinkler out, just find some way of squirting the mildew cleaner up into the tap and let it sit there for 10-15 minutes, then run your taps again on full flow to flush the deposits out. This may be worth doing 2-3 times for the first time, then clean once every 1-2 months after that.

Hope this helps, and I haven't sent you to sleep :D
 
what about the bath toys though. would some kind of filter help me?
 
BMX
Q:what about the bath toys though. would some kind of filter help me?
A: Same thing as taps, kids play with them then they are left damp in a warm damp room. No filter would cure this, so save your money to spend on yourself :D

Chrishutt
"It seems that gelatinous growth is often caused by iron in the water supply"
All water, whether it comes from a river, upland, or borehole has iron in it as its a natural mineral. More than likely, the pipes used to distribute the water in the area would be cast iron too. Any unusually high levels of iron would more than like be seen as the water would have a yellow/orange/tan colour to it.
Your local water supplier will test for this free of charge, or if you rang up and spoke to the water quality dept, they should be able to tell what the levels are in your supply area from the regulatory samples they take.
They may even have this infomation on their website.
 
i will get on to yorkshire water. get them to have a look if its free ofcourse
 
I can assure you its free. Check the website first though as your area and info is probably on there, but there is no harm in having the water from your tap sampled. Results normally take 7-10 days to come back from the labs, but I doubt that the iron would be causing the black deposits.

If you save some of the deposits in a suitable container/bottle/glass, they could do what they call a bio-ID which means the scientists look at it and identify/confirm what it is.

You never know, it could be me that lands on your doorstep...
 
Hey, there's no fooling chris.... bet you need a lay down after working that one out :LOL:
 
OK, I admit it wasn't too difficult, but I bet you can't guess my real name!
 

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