We got a new faucet in my kitchen a few weeks ago. Since then the water has been tasting strange. It’s kind of like a metallic or bleachy taste, especially when warm. What’s going on? Is this normal? Something to be concerned about?
When installing a new faucet you have to shut off the water. When water is turned back on after a period of stagnation a certain amount of sediment from the pipes is forced up and can get lodged in the faucet strainer. You should always remove the strainers before turning the water back on to prevent this - but I’m thinking your taste may be due to this material stuck in the strainer and a quick rinse may help it.
Did the new faucet installation involve any soldering? Sometime the flux used during soldering takes a while to flush out of the system. The taste you describe went away a week or two after we had some water supply pipes replaced.
Say what? So how come I can go away for a few days and come back and not have this problem? It only takes an hour, tops, to change out a faucet.
Pipper I doubt it’s flux since plumbing is rarely soldered anymore in potable water systems. It could be PVC, in which case the flavor might come from the adhesive used to make joints. Leaving the water running for several hours might flush it out.
From Moen :
To avoid damage to your new faucet, do not turn on the supply valves until you have followed these flushing instructions. Rotate the handles to the “ON” position, and remove the aerator of the faucet.
Open the hot and cold water shut off valves under the sink, and allow the water to run for 15 seconds.
While Moen says its to avoid damage - I’ve always been told that it has to do with the aerator.
Maybe the explosive decompression of air in the lines from the draining shakes sediment off the pipes and into the strainer. But still, why would the sediment taste bad in the strainer and not on the side of a pipe?
Plumbing is rarely soldered anymore? How is it connected (copper pipe, that is)?
For piddling little jobs like a faucet swapout, pushfit connectors, even on copper. Quick, and easy, no messing about with blowlamps/flux/solder nonsense in cupboards, cheap and demountable in seconds if you need to.
Or compression fittings.
I would have mentioned compression fittings a few years ago but for most if not all tasks, in my opinion, push on fittings are quicker and cost effective. In the case of a faucet, where the reach of the new v old fitting is often different, splicing in a new length of pipe is the work of seconds, unless there is already a compression joint close at hand.
Themiss00. Is there a washing machine/dishwasher close to this faucet and is the faucet served directly by the cold riser main?
I have a (taste) related item I will attempt to link to, if I can find it - it’s an oldish item now, may be gone for good. Getbacktaya
Here is one link but the most relevant ones have dissapeared.
There was major work on the freshwater delivery system here and people (lots of 'em) complained about the taste of the water.
The water suppliers investigated and came up with the answer that the delivery pressure was slightly higher, causing older flexible hoses to kitchen appliances to ‘balloon’ over a few hours (overnight) and when water was demanded, this would cause a drop in pressure, the hoses would contract and return some of the water stored in them to the system. In the case of older hoses this water was tainted.
The water company supplied on request non-return valves to fit to the hoses, to prevent the stored water from being returned to the system. They also said that older washers in the faucets could give rise to tainting.
The whole thing sounds like bullshit to me but that was their get-out.
My mother’s house was not affected at all, but her appliances are remote from the kitchen faucets and on a seperate branch of the piping.
Some people were satisfied with the solution, others not.
Seems a bit tenuous but there may be something similar operating in your house. I can hardly believe that there is a problem with the faucet itself as they have to be made to potable water standards, unless there is some rubbish trapped in it, in which case your only option would seem to be to dismantle it and subject it to close scrutiny.
I am making the presumption here that it is fed with fresh mains water and not water stored on your property. If it is fed from a tank, and it definately should not be, then you should thoroughly clean the system but more correctly re-route the piping so only fresh water is delivered to it. (legal requirement here)
From ‘The Whitby Gazette’
http://www.whitbytoday.co.uk/viewarticle2.aspx?ArticleID=580767&SectionID=983&Search=water&Searchtype=any&SearchSection=983&DateFrom=011995&DateTo=032004&Page=1&Ret