I've had this problem since moving into my newly built home 1 1/2 yrs ago. I have a well with a water softener, but the problem just begins there. In turning on the hot water (for example to our whirlpool tub) the water would be brown, but the cold water is crystal clear. I've flushed the water heater about 10 times now and even power flushed it to include all of the pipes in the home.

Our plumbers insist it is not a problem with the water heater. The changed out the anode rod from magnesium to aluminum zinc. When they did this, the plumber showed me quite a bit of gunk on the rod. A few weeks ago, they took out the aluminum zinc anode rod completely and after flushing the water heater, again, still have the same result.

The head plumber then came over to get samples to conduct a water test. He initially told me it would take a week, but nearly two weeks later we got a call from them with the results. They told us that our water is extremely hard and it appears the water softener is not able to keep up. Yet, I have the water softener cranked up to 30 (original setting was like 15-18 I believe) and have only replaced my salt two times in 1 1/2 yrs. When the plumbers were asked why the cold water is clear and hot water brown, they told us that when the water is heated up, it probably releases some of the hardness and turns the water to a brownish color. Is this really possible? If so, why would the water still be fairly brown even after completely emptying the water heater.

I still believe the glass lining in the water heater has been compromised. Whether it was during production or in delivery, whenever. I am getting closer to whits end with these guys because now they want to replace our water softener with a commercial grade one, add a reverse osmosis machine and other filtration system. Of course it will be about $1300 after they would credit us for the other softener. I think the price is ridiculous and do not know what route I should take or what to believe. Can anyone give me some advice or a path to take?

If the softener is not able to keep up, would it be possible to just have the softener replaced to make things better. Just wish I could use the whirlpool tub! And on that note, I know the whirlpool tub does not have a filter like our shower heads, etc. but we don't have the discoloration in our shower or other tub. Just the whirlpool tub.

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I've flushed the water heater about 10 times now and even power flushed it to include all of the pipes in the home.

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What came out of the heater when you flushed it?

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I know the whirlpool tub does not have a filter like our shower heads, etc. but we don't have the discoloration in our shower or other tub

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As a rule shower heads aren't filtered. You say that you have a filtered shower head?(see image) How about the tub and vanity? The kitchen sink? Are they filtered also?

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When the plumbers were asked why the cold water is clear and hot water brown, they told us that when the water is heated up, it probably releases some of the hardness and turns the water to a brownish color. Is this really possible?

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What's "possible" is that the plumbers were blowing smoke up your skirt. Heating the water reducing the hardness? And then the water turns brown? Now I've heard it all!
Iron oxcide (Rust) turns water brown. Perhaps something in the softener is leaching out. You did bypass the softener and check didn't you?
What caught my eye,( and should have caught theirs) was

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we don't have the discoloration in our shower or other tub

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If your other fixtures aren't filtered then that takes it out of the hot water heater and softener and puts it in the hot water branch to the whirlpool or the mixing valve itself. I can't believe the plumbers didn't flash on that at the start. It's only good logic if one fixture runs brown and the others run clear to focus on the fixture that runs brown. That's Plumbing 101! You did mention it didn't you?
Any more details to give me? I'll wait on your answer, Tom

Thanks Tom for you quick replies. I did mention about the whirlpool tub and the fact it is the only one doing that on several occasions. As a matter of fact, I began contacting them after moving into my home only after starting up the tub and seeing the water brown. That was about one week after moving in and we had already used the other showers and tub in our home not seeing anything of the sort.

As far as the filtering. I'm not 100% sure about each one. All I can remember was asking the plumber why my whirlpool tub is the only fixture in the home that has water turning brown and his reply was something along the lines that the bottom of the tub has no filter like other fixtures because it has to fill up with so much water so fast.

I'm not a plumber of any sort, so please excuse me if I don't make sense or sound dumb in some areas. When I unscrewed the little screens off the faucets in my home after flushing my water heater, I would turn a couple of the faucets on while letting cold water rush back into the water heater attempting to flush the lines. During that time I did see some brown coming out and the water was still cold. That's why I don't get where the plumber told my wife on the phone it is possible for the iron or hardness in the water to turn brown after it's been heated.

I'm not sure how to bypass the softener, though I may already have. When the plumber came to take a sample of my water, he turned on a faucet just below my pressure tank reservoir. As he filled the little cup, he noted how cloudy the water was initially and he told me he's never seen anything like that. I brought down a separate glass of water, filled it up and said wait for 5 seconds. The cloudiness disappeared and I (being an ignorant person with plumbing) said the cloudiness dissipates because of a turbine effect, if I'm right. Since the water came out so fast. The same thing happens when I fill a cup of water from my deep tub sink as I have a lot of pressure there, but it goes clear a few seconds later. None of that happens on my kitchen or bathroom sinks.

As far as I can see, the two things that puzzle me are why the cold water is clear and hot water is brown coming out of the whirlpool tub. To know if it is really possible that heating up water can cause the discoloration. Also, is it likely or true that my water softener is not big enough to handle the hardness? I don't have the hardness count in front of me, but am awaiting a copy.

Right now I won't have internet access in my home until tomorrow night and am currently on my meal break at work. I do plan on accessing this page sometime before I leave work. Would you like any of my other contact information, Tom? Thank you again for your help and patience with me. I really do appreciate it.

I had just been speaking with my wife and she did remind me a couple of things which hopefully will clear up some stuff.

We did see some yellowish streaks along our standup shower and some slightly in our guest bathroom tub. I think we noticed the brown water more in the whirlpool tub because it was filled up with water instead of just a stream passing by like from a shower head. The streaks in the water pretty much went away in our stand up shower after I installed a GE Shower head filter. That was when the plumbers had told us we really wouldn't see the discoloration out of our faucets because of the screens/filters.

Could it still be possible the glass lining in the water heater has been compromised? What about TOO MUCH hardness for the softener to keep up? What about the water being heated up to the point it causes the discoloration.

Sorry if I'm a little confusing while trying to explain this all to you.


Speedball, I did speak with the plumbers today and they told me my water has 60gpg of hardness. I set my softener to 70gpg for the time being, but haven't had a chance to see if things are changed.

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That was when the plumbers had told us we really wouldn't see the discoloration out of our faucets because of the screens/filters.

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If that were so your aerator screens would be brown, ( and by the way they aren't filters. All they do is aerate the water.) Have you checked them? And the toilet tank and bowl, have you checked to see if the water was brown in there? How high is the iron oxcide count in your water. Rust is what turns water brown you know. If heating hard water made it turn brown we would be snowed under with "brown water complaints" You may have a filter shower head but your toilet isn't filtered. I don't hear you complaining about that. The water all comes from the same place. I don't buy that heating hard water turns it brown. Check your aerators and let me know the results. If you have brown water in any other fixture I want to know about it. Something just doesn't sound right to me. I think your plumbers are stumped and are clutching at straws. If Your glass lining were ruptured you would see rust in every fixture that uses hot water. Something smells here and it ain't your water. Regards, Tom

You have steel nipple, or rusting galvanized nipple, installed someplace on the hot water system, like nipple on top of your w/h... or some place else. Light brown water may also be sign of electrolysis.

Do you have copper, galvanized, or plastic plumbing ?

I have a feeling you are being side-tracked with the water heater...

I have some copper piping in the home i.e. coming to and from water softener as well as about 1ft from the water heater, but the rest is pex piping. I did crank up the water softener to 70gpg since the water test indicated a hardness of 60gpg. Later on in the evening while I was away, my wife decided to test out filling up the whirlpool tub and the water was really clear. I'm excited about that news as she waited for me to get home to show me the water, but am skeptical that is the final solution. I just can't understand how hard water, when heated can turn brown as my plumbers suggested may be the problem. For now it seems like they are right, but I guess time will tell.

As for the softener, the plumbers had also pointed out they think my softener is too small and we may need to install a bigger/commercial grade softener to accommodate the hardness. I can't give spec's on how big our softener is now, because I have no specific information from the manual.

Here is the results of water test given to me by the plumbers:

Raw Water - 1.6ppm
Softened Water - 1,550
Hardness - 60gpg

At the time of the test, the softener was set to 30gpg

My kids had an outside pool years ago and every time I added chlorine the water would turn reddish brown. Are you adding chlorine to you spa?

Not sure if I've already posted this, but our water was extremely extremely hard. About 60times more than normal. After we had a larger water softener brought in, the water has not turned to the brown or reddish color since. The old softener handled about 30,000gpg of hardness while the new one handles more than 100,000

Hey Gus,
Thanks for the update. Glad the new softener took the color out of your water. Good luck, Tom

We did live out in the country with a water well, so I'm sure our water was hard also.

Just some advice for everyone out there. My plumbers informed me they had done an initial water test which did not show the water as hard. If you flush the water heater a few times and it still doesn't turn the right color, have another test done. Like most wells, I'm sure there's hard water. My only guess is they had to go twice as deep as neighbors in our area (500ft) which may have resulted in harder water. Still not sure why the hot water would only turn brown and not the cold. Only guess would be some sort of chemical reaction and since I'm no chemist, I have no answer for that.