Black bits in bath from hot water tap and shower

[DanH]

Hi,

A few months ago we had a new Grant external oil boiler fitted as our Worcester went kaput. It's been fine however, as of late, I've noticed small black specks in the upstairs bath that smear when you try to get them off, and they are quite tough to remove requiring a fair bit of soap and elbow grease.

Having Googled what it might be, I hear about corroded boiler anodes or perished rubber in flexi type hosing. The other two sinks that have hot water (upstairs bathroom and downstairs kitchen) are showing no such specks. I've removed the bath panel and see these plastic and flexi hose:

I'm assuming that the boiler hasn't broken already and that somewhere in the pipework/connectors/tap is going to be some perished rubber of some sort. What is the most likely culprit that I can start with?

Thanks

Dan

 

[footprints]

Well the flexi will have rubber under the braid, are you sure it's not black mould forming on the tap outlet?
Our handbasin gets that from time to time.

 

[DanH]

Thanks, it's definitely not mould as I'm used to how that looks. These are hard lumps that smear into a mascara / oil type of substance. I think I'll start with the flexi hose to see what state of repair that is in. Not sure if the rubber/plastic in tap innards can also cause this?

Also forgot to add, they also appear when the shower is on, which is a mixer type that tales hot water from that pipe that splits to go to the bath or through the wall into the shower.

 

[footprints]

I am surprised they are getting through the shower head, is it fixed or on a hose that too will be rubber inside. I doubt the taps are shedding rubber as the still seem to work. Might be worth taking the head off and giving it a good flush into the bath in case it's something that has got into the supply.

 

[Johntheo5]

Hi,

A few months ago we had a new Grant external oil boiler fitted as our Worcester went kaput. It's been fine however, as of late, I've noticed small black specks in the upstairs bath that smear when you try to get them off, and they are quite tough to remove requiring a fair bit of soap and elbow grease.

Having Googled what it might be, I hear about corroded boiler anodes or perished rubber in flexi type hosing. The other two sinks that have hot water (upstairs bathroom and downstairs kitchen) are showing no such specks. I've removed the bath panel and see these plastic and flexi hose:

View attachment 308735

I'm assuming that the boiler hasn't broken already and that somewhere in the pipework/connectors/tap is going to be some perished rubber of some sort. What is the most likely culprit that I can start with?

Thanks

Dan

How is the water heated, is it a combi boiler or a vented or unvented HW Cylinder?

 

[DanH]

It's a combi boiler. The shower head is one of those large-ish chrome head things with relatively big holes for stuff like that to pass through!

 

[Johntheo5]

Unlikely to be the boiler except something corroding or whatever in the plate heat exchanger which is very unlikely.

 

[Roddy Young]

We have an unvented system with expansion vessel. When the diaphragm died in the EV, exactly the kind of smeary, oily drops appeared - and were first noticed in the bath water.

 

[DanH]

I've just been round the taps with a cafetiere gauze (the only thing I had!) to see what it gathers when the taps are running and it's very obvious with the bath HW tap but nothing on the rest of the taps including the other HW tap in the bathroom sink. It was fiddly doing the check with the shower as the gauze is too small diameter but wasn't obviously collecting anything. First port of call is the bath HW flexi hose then....