I’m hoping those of you here on Breaktime can help me out. I generally stick to the Knots board, but I’m up against a problem that I can’t fix, and I’m in a place (Central America) where nobody seems able to help me out.
We recently moved into a nice home in San Salvador, where we will be renting for the next two years for a job I’ve got. The hot water in the master shower all of a sudden stopped flowing after a few days of decent flow. I’ve had the plumbers out four times to fix it (labor is cheap), and the fixes have always lasted approximately thirty minutes. I finally unpacked my own tools and took apart the hot water faucet in the master shower to discover that the water pressure is excellent (the geyser shot across the bathroom) but there is calcium buildup in the pipes that is coming off in chunks and clogging the hot water faucet (that little plastic regulator that controls the flow of water).
So the water pressure is fine, but the little calcium that is coming off is killing the flow in the handle/faucet itself. Replacing any plumbing is going to be a serious undertaking as the houses down here are solid concrete and the plumbing is embedded in the actual cinderblock/concrete.
I’ve read about using acids to clean the pipes, and might give that a try. I think the calcium buildup is not severe (as the water pressure without the faucet handle is awesome), but the small bits and pieces are clogging the faucet itself. Is there something I can use that would simply allow the calcium to pass through? Any recommendations on cleaning the pipes? Again, this appears to only be affecting my master shower. The hot water in the rest of the house works wonderfully. Any ideas? (keep in mind I can get all kinds of acids and solutions on the market here that might otherwise be inaccessible to non-pros in the US. I’m not excited to use them, but I can get them if it would save me from having some guys tear up the concrete walls in my bathroom).
Thanks for your help! I’m more a wood guy than a copper pipe guy, so I appreciate your input.
Replies
soak it in vinegar
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Jay,
Are you on a well,,, or city water.
Do you use a water softener?
What are you doing in El Savador??
Harry
See if you can get a water softener installed. Once you stop adding calcium it will reverse the process and drop into suspension and clean out the pipes.
Might take a while but the problem is well entrenched and you need to treat the problem, not the symptom.
------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
The installation of a water softener may make things worse.
As the calcium starts to disolve, it will flake off the pipe, and end up in his valves.
If it's just a few feet of pipe that you can easily disassemble then soak it all in full strength vinegar. Flushing all of the pipes with acid would be a bit of a problem, likely just causing more chunks to break loose, and risking damage to the pipes.
If you could somehow install a filter or screen ahead of the valve that would seem to be the best solution.
I've checked out the possibility of a water softener. We had one installed in our last home in Utah for this very reason (and the Mrs. is rather fond of the slimey-just-showered feel of soft water). Thus far I haven't seen any softeners here, nor the salt pellets.
We're on city water, which complicates the issue because the water is so hard coming in that any solution without a softener is going to be temporary at best. However, we're only here for two years, so anything that will work for the next two years will suffice (for us anyway).
I've read up on the vinegar solution, and have even read suggestions of stronger concoctions involving muriatic acid and such. Pumping it into the pipes might be a little problematic and flushing it may be no fun either.
I was hoping there might be something that could be installed that would filter out the calcium chunks before they were embedded in the valve. It doesn't appear that the buildup has gotten so bad that it is affecting overall water pressure, it just kills the valve when it breaks loose and builds up even the tiniest amount inside the faucet valve.
Have any of you ever attempted to snake out pipes with a wire brush attachment or anything of the sort to clean them out? I think the stretch of pipe that is affected is only a couple of yards long, but I may be wrong.
Oh yeah, I'm in El Salvador working with the US Embassy here. My wife and I packed up our stuff and sold our home earlier this year to travel the world as diplomats with our kids. But I'm finding old habits (tool nut and general handyman) hard to give up. The day I sold my tablesaw, planer, jointer and other large shop tools was a sad sad day. I've kept all my hand tools and am finding them very handy. And the wood they have down here!!! It makes me sick not to have something more sophisticated to work with it!
If you have the space you could just install a filter ahead of the valve, and change it when the flow slows down.
There are some filter systems that have plastic beads in them that attract the calcites and calcates out of the water. The lime builds up on the beads and stays on them, and you periodically replace the cartridge.
One problem is that this is hot water, and likely a lot of filters aren't speced for hot water.
Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be! --Miguel de Cervantes
A pump hooked up temporary to circulate citric acid may clean the lines , but would only be a temp. fix.
You know, it occurs to me that the "calcium" you're having trouble with may be a disintegrated water heater dip tube. This was a big problem in the US about ten years back when plastic dip tubes started breaking off and disintegrating, sending bits of plastic into the hot water system (and also reducing the amount of hot water available).
It might be worth it to try flushing the water heater.
I had a home awhile back with a similar problem. Every time I replaced the whole house water filter, the backflow and pressure changes released a ton of crud from the walls of my copper pipes. Both hot and cold taps got plugged with gunk that looked like gravel.
I asked a plumbers forum about a vinegar backwash, and was told that it was a bad idea. If the pipe is old enought to collect sediment, it's old enough to form pinhole leaks from the acid.
What you need is a simple sediment filter - here is a plan for one. Basicly for every stubout from the wall, you need a T fitting - one outlet up and the other down. On the upside, place a wire screen (faucet areretor screen) in the threads and thread in the short pipe fitting on top of it, locking the screen in the pipe. Attach the shutoff valve to that. On the bottom, attach a short pipe and a full flow ball valve below that.
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The sediment will be stopped by the screen, and fall down into the pipe with the valve. When you feel the flow slow, the pipe is full. Put a bucket or towels beneith each tap and open up the full flow valve, emptying the sediment filled pipe.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Save the Whales! and Guns!
Maybe an electronic water conditioner will help
http://www.waterimp.co.uk/
From their FAQ:
A cow magnet works as well and is a lot cheaper.
Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be! --Miguel de Cervantes
I've read enough of your posts to know your kidding, you are kidding, right?
I'm not kidding. A cow magnet IS cheaper. And it works just as well (which is to say, not at all).
Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be! --Miguel de Cervantes