White floating objects in cold tap water

cu506 · #1 Sep 17, 2007, 05:23 PM

Hello everyone,

I've asked two questions regarding white floating objects in cold tap water, but I need to ask one more time because so far nothing explains my situation.

(1) I have a tankless heater - so the particles are not from dip tube.

(2) The white floating objects don't dissolve in vinegar - so they not not calcium deposits.

(3) The white floating objects are floating - so they are not other mineral sediments. Mineral sediments are heavy so they sink.

(4) The white floating objects are coming more out of cold tap water than hot water.

(5) My neighbors don't have this problem.

(6) Sometimes there are so many of them. In a small glass of 200cc, I can count 7-8 pieces.

(7) Then for a while, there's no pieces at all.

Any idea what they could be?

I've contacted the city water department and they collected the samples. However, the inspector didn't find the white stuff. It wasn't there when he was using the water. :<

The water department will test for bacteria, lead and some other stuff to determine if the water is drinkable. However, I'm still concerned about the white pieces which didn't come out when the inspector collected the water.

May

doug238 · Sep 17, 2007, 09:15 PM

it is likely that it is pvc shavings from cutting pvc pipe with a hack saw during some repair or installation. also, i lived in central florida for a while. we had that in our water. i was teasing my wife and told her they recycle the water [truth] and that it was likely some toilet paper that got by. she was not amused.
in some areas they use grey water for irrigation, hopefully you do not have a cross connection.

cu506 · Sep 18, 2007, 04:08 AM

Thank you for your answer, however,

- The water pipes in my house is copper.

- My neighbors don't have the same problem - not a main water pipe problem. So although there might have been a repair outside in the main water pipe, it doesn't apply this case.

- There are so many pieces of the white particles to think they are toilet papers.

- I live in Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada, so I dount we have grey water coming in.

letmetellu · Sep 18, 2007, 07:40 PM

This is just another idea and will probably be useless but here goes: have you installed anything new in the past few weeks but before you started seeing the white specks? What I am getting at is everything now is packaged in the pressed foam packing and regardless hot hard you try there is alway little pieces of it still around. It could be that some of these pieces got pushed into a pipe or fitting and are just now dislodging and making themselves seen.