Closed Loop Radiant - slightly red/brown after 6 weeks of running municipal water

cloudd

My new system appears to be running pretty solid. It's putting out adequate heat at the moment and so far I am extremely happy with it. But with this being said. I think I made a mistake, I'm unsure. My plumber convinced me that the municipal water is pretty good and I should just use the municipal water in it. So that is what I did.

My system has been running (actually heating) around 6 weeks and the white helio pex is starting to have a red/brown residue appear inside the pipes.

-All pipes used in the closed loop are oxygen barrier pex or copper.
-All zones are in floor radiant and are straight runs of hello pex to the manifold.
-I have 1x cast iron circulation pump.
-There is no hydronic separator installed. I thought I would be able to get away without one since I did not use any radiators which were deleted from my original design.

*Municipal water was used... Inside the home the municipal water seems great but there is very minor light peach color residue left in the bathtubs where the caulking is after 3-4 weeks of daily use. Is this iron?*






2x of my 10x zones have not been active but have municipal water in them. You can notice the difference in color. They do not have this residue in them. I think I should fix my mistake before it's a much bigger mistake.


*I have not hardwired a plug for the actuator control system yet. but I will*




Did I make a mistake or am I over concerned?

What are my options to resolve this problem?

nosirra1Arrison

The pex will discolor. Here is my system with new pex on the left and 6 month old pex on the right. Due to the color on your pex (reddish orange), I would run a magnetic filter just for safety’s sake. 

Nothing to worry about as far as I can see.

hot_rod

You could send a boiler water sample for analysis. Its always best to catch and fix water quality earlier than later. 

Same  with your potable water turbidity is the small silica particles that you see, that is not usually a concern

If the toilet tanks turn red  that would be high iron content, which is fixable with filters, or specific whole house iron filtration 

Derheatmeister

Is this a Aluminium Heat exchanger?
I would have the fluid that was used to fill your system checked..
We use Deionized water in some of our systems !
You can contact me directly if you wouild like to know more about this.

cloudd

hot_rod said:

You could send a boiler water sample for analysis. Its always best to catch and fix water quality earlier than later. 

Same  with your potable water turbidity is the small silica particles that you see, that is not usually a concern

If the toilet tanks turn red  that would be high iron content, which is fixable with filters, or specific whole house iron filtration 

There does not seem to be any residue buildup in my toilet tanks. These 2 toilets have been installed for more that 2 years I have never cleaned the inside of their reservoir tanks before.

Just so I am clear. When I take a water sample in for testing do I specifically need to tell them what to test for?


FYI: Bosch Singular 5200 Combi
This combi has a stainless steel heat exchanger.

hot_rod

Any of the ferrous metals will rust in a hydronic system and discolor the water slightly 

Once the O2 is used up in the corrosion process , further rust or oxidation as should stop

Corrosion inhibitors added at the first fill can help.  But the water may be the color of the inhibitor