| Author | Content |
Ladyborg
Magnolia, TX
Zone 8b
October 25, 2006
1:33 AM | We're new to country life and water wells. Our shower & utility room sink look awful with green deposits on our cultured marble, & plastic utility sink. Actually the green stains show up on anything that holds water for any amount of time, such as dog water dishes (I give them bottled water now).
Anyone know what it might be? It's almost impossible to scrub off, Limeaway does a pretty good job, but with a lot of elbow grease!
Surprisingly, one weekend when we were away, and a sample packet of liquid body soap leaked on the green stains, it made it disappear completely. I replicated the effect with cheap shampoo, just put a blob on the green stain and sure enough, all gone in minutes with NOOOOOOOOOOO scrubbing.
I am perplexed. The water's been tested at a medium level and is OK, we're on our own well which is about 220' deep I think. The lab test showed it's slightly acid, but that's all. I'm afraid the green might be from the copper pipes being eaten away by something in the water. | renwings
Sultan, WA
Zone 8a
October 25, 2006
1:58 AM | Your hunch is correct, the acidic nature of your water is corroding your pipes. Was your home inspected when you first purchased it? The inspector should have checked the general condition of the plumbing. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, since the process is slow. You can update your plumbing (cha-ching!) with the manifold plumbing system that uses flexable plastic pipes instead of metal. My mother did that in her old home.
Those types of stains are removed with an acidic cleaner as well. I know shampoo and some body soaps are formulated to be on the acidic side, because your skin and hair is also on the acidic side. What a happy accident! It would never have occured to me to use that on a mineral deposit!.
I wouldn't worry to much about it, but if your home hasn't been inspected, it might be a good idea to have someone check the condition of your pipes. Maybe invest in water filtration and softening for your well. You can even buy those britta filters that attach to your faucet. | Ladyborg
Magnolia, TX
Zone 8b
October 25, 2006
1:44 PM | Thanks! We built the home ourselves in 2003, and it was all new piping, plus we insisted on the K or L (I forget), the better of the two grades of copper piping. I hope that means it's thicker and will last longer.
We hope to get a whole house reverse osmosis system, will that help save the pipes??????????? | Ladyborg
Magnolia, TX
Zone 8b
October 30, 2006
2:46 PM | Also...............the shampoo or liquid body soap works great on flat surfaces, but it just streaks on vertical ones. So I would like to be able to make a paste with it for application. What would you recommend? It seems you know more about acids and alkalines than I do.
If I mix with baking soda to make a paste, the baking soda will undoubtedly neutralize the acidity of the shampoo, and thus its cleaning power. | ecrane3
Dublin, CA
Zone 9a
October 30, 2006
3:07 PM | It depends on how much baking soda you have to add...most shampoos/body washes are buffered, which means that you can add some acid or base to them without changing their pH signficantly. So as long as you don't need to add a ton of baking soda you may be just fine. |
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