How to clean out domestic piping ?

Unknown

we'll come across copper piping that is coated with ooze . Usually after a heater corroded internally . Whats the best way to flush out the piping ? Can it be as simple as adding diswasher fluid to the new tank , heating the tank up real high and opening faucets individually ?

Andrew Hagen_2

Ooze

I'm not sure, but that looks pretty bad. Is that throughout the domestic piping? Does dish soap cut it pretty easily?

bob young

pipe cleaning

possibly with a hypochlorite solution w/ chlorine such as cleaning a large rooftank. i would recommend replacing the pipe. cleaning risky & probably not worth the effort, Ron. hercules makes chemicals that may be useful. that pipe looks nasty.

Andrew Hagen_2

Water

Is this well or city water?

scrook_2

replace the copper?

washing soda / sodium carbonate?
"TSP" (actually probably not really tri sodium phosphate any more, but functionally equivalent)?
heavy duty automotive radiator cleaner -- the two part stuff w/ cleaner (acidic) and neutralizer.?
Acid type tankless coil cleaner? (diluted somewhat?)

You'd have to thoroughly rinse afterward though, regardless of what you used.

What's the gunk consist of?

Unknown

City water

This crap was on the hot side of the piping only . It wasn't solid . It came out easily enough by sticking my pinky in the pipe . The water still had some color at the slop sink when we flushed it hot .

jp_2

bleach

i used bleach om a water heater spewing out black crud.

let it soak 12-24 hrs then flush well. it seems to work for 3-4 yrs then needs to be done again.

bob young

Hercules sizzle® and Cloroben DE®

we used this product in the past on tankless coils. says rated safe for domestic water

Rich Kontny_3

Iron

Will build up like that also. We pipe in ball valves and a drain tee. Then we shock the piping by slamming the ball valves shut. This usually loosens up the buildup. We have even used an air compressor and used 125 # of air to loosen it up.

You need to have a feel for shocking the piping like this so you don't overdue it. The stuff inside your piping looks like cavior from fresh lake sturgeon (yum)

Unknown

Thanks Bob

and everyone . Since it seemed like it was coating the piping very loosely , I was thinking some mild type of soap would do the trick . Combined with raising the heater temperature as high as we can , temporarily . But it might do more harn than good at the faucets .

nicholas bonham-carter

delicious

almost that time of the year to have jellied consomme with sour cream, freshly-squeezed lemon, topped off with caviar --very yum-yum!--nbc

Larry Weingarten

If you're friends...

... with the local water supplier, it might be useful to have their lab take a look at the goo. Otherwise, you've barely met the beast and can't know what language it speaks so you can ask it to leave. :~O

Yours, Larry

Unknown

This was not

on the cold side of the piping . We were there to change out a leaking oil fired water heater . My edjumacated guess is the corrosion from the inside of the tank travelled into the hot side of the piping

Mark Eatherton

Ron,did the tank have an anode?

Magnesium or aluminum?

For what its worth, I'd bet you a dozen donuts that a lab could find legionella pneumophila bacteria in the goo...

ME

Darrell_4

I've had to do this with several places that neglected their water treatment systems. The best way I've found is to pull the stops from every sink and replace them with full-port ball valves with hose adapters on one end and compression fittings on the other. then I pump in cheap chlorox and let it stand overnight. Go back the next day and flush with air out of each hose valve. Stand back cuz it will be nasty...and it will kill the grass and stain everything permanently to so be careful where you place your hose. Then flush like cazy with clear water. Hook up the faucetry and do it again. and this time get all the appliances too. Run the water heater hotter. Soap will be next to immpossible to flush out. Chlorox will flush quite easily and is easy to dip strip and know when it is gone.