Heating Help

Cloudy hot water

I have a customer that is getting milky white water( as white as the background on this page) from the kitchen sink faucet, only the hot and only this fixture. the rest of the house is crystal clear. We replaced the faucet thinking it may be pulling in air through a small leak in the cartridge caising a venturi effect, no luck. we then disconnected the supply tube and we got the same milky water. I have drained and flushed the water heater, it also has a point of use charcoal filter on the spout but with the filter on or off we get the same. We are located North of Chicago with Lake Michgan water that is as they say the one of best treatment plants in the country. I've been in this industry for 33 years and have never seen anything like this, can anyone lend a suggestion.

Tim   

supply lines

Copper or plastic?  Dishwasher tee'd in? 

sent from my home computer

Copper lines, yes, the dishwasher is teeded in with a 1/2" tee and angle stop. It may be possible that this connection may be causing some sort of venturi effect, never even considered that a possoble cause. Maybe a leak at the air gap fitting on the dishwasher is pulling air in but not leaking water out ?.  

does it clear up....

after a minute or so? Is there a precipitate in the water? Hate to say it... you may have to re-pipe that entire section to assure that there is nothing odd in the piping.

cloudy water response

You got me with precipitate, i am concerened that there may be something in the piping that is causing excesive turbulence. I have emailled the Copper Dev. Assoc. to ask if they have ever had a circunmstance like this before but i don't really expect a response from them. I am going to shut off the dishwasher stop to see if that will make a diffence.

Might be

something caught in the pipe. Do you get the same milky water in the dishwasher? 

foam in dishwasher & cloudy hot water

Hot water from only my kitchen tap is very cloudy . When the dishwasher is on with no soap the water forms a thick white foam.  Can you tell me what to do.  The water pump went on my dishwasher , bought a new machine and am afraid to use it now.

milky water

I hope this pcture will open, It is a JPEG file, this a what i consider a clear glass compared to what it usually looks like.
Tim

Air?

Hello:  It looks like air.  Does the water clear after sitting a bit?  Tiny air bubbles will float out causing a bit of fizzle on top of the water.  If so, there is air/gas in the water and possibly the plumbing is such that it collects in the line to the kitchen.  After running water for a while, does the next glass you fill still have the cloudy water? 

A possible source of this could be an overactive anode.  Is the water treated in any way?

Yours,  Larry

Larry

This is a typical condo. What is wierd is the amount of cloudiness and the fact that it only happens in one fixture. The water service comes in the basement and runs across the ceiling to the water heater with the exception of one 3/4"line which feeds the kitchen, (the other fixtures are on the other side of the house above the heater) from the heater it has a 3/4" hot water pipe that runs along the ceiling to the kitchen. The kitchen has milky white hot and cold water. The anod erod is magnesium which is standard for this area. No other neighbors have the problem even though they have the same condo layout and most likely the same plumber did the install. One thing that i did not mention is that the service had Magnetic Fluid Conditioning system attached to it which has been removed.     

Trying to narrow it down.

Hello:  I don't understand the cloudiness being in both hot and cold.  Apart from that, a few thoughts/questions.  Does the cloudiness clear from a glass after a minute or so?  This tells us if it really is a gas in the water.  Does it only happen on first draw in the morning, or is it still cloudy even on the second and third draws?  This indicates the gas is or isn't finding a high spot in the piping to hang out.  It also, is a clue about the gas being generated slowly overnight, or not.

A hypothesis to check is whether the anode is involved.  Removing the rod for only a few days and putting a plug in it's place will show whether or not the amount of gas at the tap is reduced or stopped.  If it is, you know the anode is involved.  There's some homework  :~)

Yours,  Larry

cloudy water

Removing the anode is about the only thing i have not done yet, that will be my next move. The water is cloudy all times of the day, even running continuously it still remains cloudy. However at some moment it will clear up considerably but not completely and we can't seem to figure out what causes it to clear up.
Thanks for your input.
Tim

Any solution?

Did you ever figure out what it is?  I have the same problem in my bathroom sink after our renovation.  It is only in that bathroom sink and not in the bath (in the same room.)  Is it harmful?

cloudy water

KH,
No i did not, we believe it is caused by a combination of things, temperature, pressure and the anode rod. Ours cleared up pretty well and we don't really know why. Our next step would be to remove the Anode rod from the water heater but because it was happening on both the hot and cold we have not done that yet. I really think she may be on the end of a water main that may have something to do with it.
It ( well our circumstances) is not harmful, it is trapped gas(air), and if you let it set a while it will clear up. 
Good luck

Air in water:

I've seen this on and off for years. Unless it smells or does anything like that, it always seemed to go away on its own.
When I add more Calcite to my neutralizer filter, I get it for a while and it goes away.
Unless you decide otherwise, or with symptoms of nefarious things, I'd take "a wait and see" attitude.
JMO.

Did you check the stop?

If the valve under the faucet is junk inside it may be causing turbulence or a piece of washer broke loose and is in the outlet of the stop.

cloudy water

Removed stops, removed compression rings and cut pipe back to eliminate depression where ring was, new faucet. same results.
Thanks,
Tim

Might be fun...

... to see if you get the cloudy water at the hose bibb on the incoming main line.  If so, installing an air separator could be useful.  It would need to take the line pressure and not be able to rust of course!

Yours,  Larry