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Brown water from outside hydrant?

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Brown water from outside hydrant? legbuh 02-14-2008
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Posted by legbuh on February 14, 2008, 5:19 pm
Hello.

This fall we finished up a shop that is about 200 feet away from our
house, a slight down grade. We also tapped the main water line (from
our well) and T-d it off to install an outside freezeless water hydrant
by the shop. It is about 75 feet from where it was t'd to the hydrant,
also downhill from the house on a slight grade.

Now when I use the water in the hydrant it runs for about 20 seconds,
then turns brownish, and clears up in about 2 minutes.

My wife said that if she is running water in the house when I turn on
the outside hydrant, it stops almost all water in the house for a few
seconds, and sometimes the water appears also brown for a couple seconds
in the house (mainly the cold water).

Is this just something we have to deal with, or did maybe the installers
who t'd the water line skip a step? It's really not that big of a deal,
but it helps if I can explain what's happening to the wife. I assume
it's backflushing the line when I use the outside hydrant. And over
time it may not be "as brown".

Thanks.

Posted by The Reverend Natural Light on February 14, 2008, 6:16 pm
>
> Now when I use the water in the hydrant it runs for about 20 seconds,
> then turns brownish, and clears up in about 2 minutes.
>

My parents had a shop built between their house and well. To get
water to it, the builder ran a new line from the house back to the
shop. I wondered why they didn't just T the line from the well (since
they cut it with a dozer anyways) rather than go all the way back with
a new line. Water doesn't care which way it's running out of the
header tank, right?

You might have found out why.

I'll bet the brown water is just stirred up gunk from inside the pipe
and will go away after a while. The loss of water pressure is a
design problem.


Posted by nick hull on February 15, 2008, 9:46 am
In article

> I'll bet the brown water is just stirred up gunk from inside the pipe
> and will go away after a while. The loss of water pressure is a
> design problem.

I concur. In my system the water travels 400' from the spring to the
house, and while the water is perfectly clear the pipe will slowly build
up silt deposits. Once a year I drain the pipe and then turn on the
pump and let it free flow thru an outside (full diameter) faucet. The
enclosed air from draining the pipe acts like gravel in stirring up the
deposited silt and the water will be brown for a few seconds then clear
up. Perfectly normal.

Free men own guns - www(dot)geocities(dot)com/CapitolHill/5357/

Posted by on February 14, 2008, 6:49 pm
> Hello.
>
> This fall we finished up a shop that is about 200 feet away from our
> house, a slight down grade. We also tapped the main water line (from
> our well) and T-d it off to install an outside freezeless water hydrant
> by the shop. It is about 75 feet from where it was t'd to the hydrant,
> also downhill from the house on a slight grade.
>
> Now when I use the water in the hydrant it runs for about 20 seconds,
> then turns brownish, and clears up in about 2 minutes.
>
> My wife said that if she is running water in the house when I turn on
> the outside hydrant, it stops almost all water in the house for a few
> seconds, and sometimes the water appears also brown for a couple seconds
> in the house (mainly the cold water).
>
> Is this just something we have to deal with, or did maybe the installers
> who t'd the water line skip a step? It's really not that big of a deal,
> but it helps if I can explain what's happening to the wife. I assume
> it's backflushing the line when I use the outside hydrant. And over
> time it may not be "as brown".
>
> Thanks.

If you are seeing a discoloration, just to be safe, you have better
have a bacteriological test run on the water...

Posted by on February 14, 2008, 6:52 pm
> Hello.
>
> This fall we finished up a shop that is about 200 feet away from our
> house, a slight down grade. We also tapped the main water line (from
> our well) and T-d it off to install an outside freezeless water hydrant
> by the shop. It is about 75 feet from where it was t'd to the hydrant,
> also downhill from the house on a slight grade.
>
> Now when I use the water in the hydrant it runs for about 20 seconds,
> then turns brownish, and clears up in about 2 minutes.
>
> My wife said that if she is running water in the house when I turn on
> the outside hydrant, it stops almost all water in the house for a few
> seconds, and sometimes the water appears also brown for a couple seconds
> in the house (mainly the cold water).
>
> Is this just something we have to deal with, or did maybe the installers
> who t'd the water line skip a step? It's really not that big of a deal,
> but it helps if I can explain what's happening to the wife. I assume
> it's backflushing the line when I use the outside hydrant. And over
> time it may not be "as brown".
>
> Thanks.

As a PS, you should have the water tested anytime you work on the
water system anyway.

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