I have rusty well water and the pipes seem to have build-up in them. Is there any way to clean them? How about pumping CLR or Lime Away into the pressure tank and letting the water run for a while? Would that help increase the flow at all? BTW most of the pipes are copper.
Rusty well water and copper pipes? I think you need to rethink your question. Maybe what you need is a filter.
I think the rust comes from the water tank and has deposited in the pipes and valves. Most of the pipes are copper. Some of them look like steel.
Prepare for a really expensive plumbing job.
The reason most people repipe with copper is that they don’t corrode with as much sedimentary effluent as steel pipes. However, whoever added the copper tubing to your house’s plumbing system was not very bright. The junction between copper tubing and galvanized steel pipes produces acid at an alarming rate (check the joints where steel runs into copper), and your pipes may be showing the effects of this.
My advice is–sorry for the bad news–to completely repipe your house. This will probably rid you of the rusty appearance of your water, as well.
Under no circumstances should you try the trick with CLR or Lime Away.
How about a different plumbing question? My friend’s bathroom sink “thumps” at night, making a loud noise every 2-3 seconds, but only at night. The flow is not impeded, and pouring drain cleaner down the drain doesn’t seem to change anything. Any ideas?
Connections of this type will not be a problem, if they are made with what is called a di-electric union. This connection will eliminate the corrosive proscess which would harm your pipes. Any plumbing shop can furnish these. They only sound technical. They are actually a union between the pipes that are insulated with a plastic insert.
I doubt that this is the source of all the rust, however,if you had enough copper to galvanized connections, it may produce an unusual amount.
The “thumping” in your friends sink is probably trapped air. Sometimes the water heater can cause this and sometimes it just gets trapped in the lines. Try draining the water heater and see if it makes a difference.
The build-up and the rusty water are probably not directly related.
I don’t think it’s possible to remove scale from the inside of domestic supply lines. The “build-up” is usually a calcium/mineral deposit which is essentially impossible to get rid of. The buildup is much worse where the water is heated. Don’t even THINK of using chemicals. You can live with the scale (and reduced flow/pressure) or replumb. Sorry.
Connecting copper directly to iron/steel pipes will cause trouble too, but usually only at the fitting where they meet. You can tell copper from iron/steel with a magnet, really old pipes it can be hard to tell by looking.
Since copper pipes don’t rust, the rust must be coming from the iron/steel pipes, your water heater, the pump, the pressure tank, the well structure, or the well water itself.
Is your hot water heater ancient? Is the rust worse when you’re running hot water? If so, then it’s probably your problem. They sometimes start producing rusty water right before they fail. You can drain it (unplug it first and do not plug it back in until it’s refilled!) which you should do periodically anyway, and get all the sediment and rust and gunk out. If it makes a noticable boiling/hissing sound when it’s on, then the elements may be covered with scale and need replacement. If the heater fails, you’ll notice it. 
If the pressure in your house has dropped at the same time the rust appeared, AND you have a diaphragm pressure tank, it probably means the diaphragm broke and you need a new pressure tank. Once you replace this tank, you might get some of your pressure back.
If it’s the iron/steel pipes, well you can replace them.
If it’s the pump/well structure, they’ll need repair.
And if it’s the well water, you’re screwed. I suppose you could buy a filter.
The thumping is probably from thermal expansion/contraction of the pipes “squeeking” in their brackets or where they are in contact with structure members of the building. It sounds like a lame explanation, but this can be quite loud. It happens with drain-pipes as well supply lines. The reason it happens at night is probably because the house is cooling and the air, wood and metal pipes all cool at different rates. I lived in an apartment where the drain pipes would bang every few seconds for a minute or two AFTER the water was turned off, but only in winter at night and only when I used hot water.
If the pipes “bang” abruptly when you shut off the tap, that’s “water hammer” which is caused by not enough air in the pipes (well, sorta). Easy to fix, if you can solder pipes.
Poltergeists and gerbil flushing sometimes cause pipe noise as well. Your friend wouldn’t happen to have the initials R.G. would he?
No R.G. here! I forwarded your responses to him…though I don’t think he was flushing gerbils.
before you spend lots of money on fixing pipes…are you sure the rusty color is coming from your pipes? perhaps your groundwater is high in iron, manganese, or organic compounds. has your water always been like this or has it been getting worse over time?
Apparently you are new in the neighborhood.
Check with the neighbors to see if they have the rusty water problem. If they have a well about the same depth as yours they are in the same aquifer.
If the problem is the water you cannot do anything about it. Get a good filter. Wash your white clothes in town.We stopped buying white clothes altogether when we moved to this house because of the water. We have rural water now.
Consider replacing your pipes with plastic. You can do the job yourself if you are handy at that sort of thing.
DO NOT put any chemicals in the water pipes.
Some may get trapped and you will be drinking it later.
We still use the well for watering livestock and every spring I have to go and dig up about 20’ of waterline and replace it. I don’t know how old it is but it rusts through.
I lived in an area w/ rusty water in the pipes, this is what they (the town) did
1 flush out the pipes by opening the hydrants on a regular basis
and 2 whan things got worse they added something like baking soda to help preserve the pipes (or at least thats what they told us it was)
You mean real water pipes.