Wasps in the water??

[mogwai72]

We bought a house at the end of January this year. It’s a 1961 property in a 1961 state and had been unoccupied since the owner passed away last summer, thought the heating/water had been switched on and the boiler serviced etc.

When we moved in and put boxes in the attic, my husband remarked that there seemed to be an old wasps nest up there. I’m now wondering whether this has affected our water supply.

The water supply upstairs appears to come from a header tank in the attic. Unfortunately, this sits on part of the attic which is unboarded, so we haven't yet had a look whether it's covered - suspect not. This obviously feeds the hot water tank in the airing cupboard and possibly the cold taps in the bathroom.

We have two small children who are bathed every night. When we first moved in, I noticed there was some debris in the bath when I ran it. I assumed this was something that had been sitting in the taps and had been allowed to build up through lack of use since the house had been empty. This lasted for about three days - noticed it every time they had a bath. Also, some of the water was quite yellow but again this resolved and didn't happen again.

We have now been in the property for three months and over the bank holiday weekend I noticed exactly the same debris appearing in the bath water. I managed to scoop most of it out to have a better look and it appears to be the 'shells' from wasps - I could identify a head portion with two eye sockets, some wings and some black/yellow pieces which resemble toenail clippings. The debris only appears when I run the cold water tap to the bath and seems to come in fits and starts - several pieces at once then nothing.

We clearly have some wasps fallen into the water tank in the attic and as far as I can tell, the corpses are only appearing in the cold water tap for the bath. However, we are also having a problem with 'lack of water pressure' in two of our hot taps (upstairs bathroom and kitchen) which has become a problem over the last fortnight. We have a total of five hot water taps at the property and only two are affected - the stream of water is very slow as though there's a lack of pressure or a blockage. It's puzzling because the two affected taps are not in close proximity (one upstairs, one downstairs) and they are hot taps when the problem seems to be in the cold supply. The hot water tank is very noisy when we run the hot taps and I’m not sure this is normal. I’m wondering whether the re-appearance of wasp shells is linked to the poor output of the taps – could there be a blockage?

I'd be grateful for an an opinion on what we ought to do. We are in the process of applying for planning permission to build an extension, which will see the whole plumbing system ripped out. This should be completed by the end of the year so obviously we have to sit and wait to some extent but I’m thinking about pest control. I have noticed lots of wasps in the last few weeks but realise these may be queens looking for a suitable place for a nest (I've noticed lots in my office at work too so I'm not sure the problem is confined to our house).

The affected taps are both mixer taps.

 

[FoxtrotOscar]

It may be that only some taps are affected because only some taps have become blocked. The cold cistern in the attic supplies the hot water cylinder so any debris in the cold tank will be passed into the hot water system also.

You need someone to come and:

- Close off cold water main supply and drain down cold water cistern (or close valve if there's an isolation valve).
- Clean out cold water cistern.
- Fit byelaw kit to stop insects and debris entering tank.
- Make sure the tank lid is secure.
- Drain down and flush hot water cylinder using drain cock at the bottom.
- Flush out blocked taps; repair or replace if necessary.

I'm not a pro plumber but the above is what I'd do.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

As said it sounds likely the wasps have found their way into the water supply via the tank. At the very least the whole system needs to be drained and flushed to remove all detritus that has collected, unless you are prepared to live with wasp corpses in the water you bath in until the system is ripped out.....

The cold storage tank in the roof supplies the hot water cylinder and also possibly most of the cold taps. The kitchen cold tap should be supplied direct from the mains, and for this reason should be the only tap used for drinking water supplies.

Most modern taps have a plastic 'flow straightener' fitted in the spout. This will act as a sieve, trapping any debris and thus the tap will give a poor flow. Without draining and flushing the system (and preventing anything else unorthodox entering the cold tank) you wont solve the current problem.

The recent warm weather has contributed to wasps nesting earlier this year I believe, and has given rise to a warning there is likely to be a lot of the damn things this summer. Pest Control will happily remove any current or spent nests but cant remove anything already in the water supply!

 

[FoxtrotOscar]

^ Love the name, lol.