When we turn on the hot water in our kitchen sink, little black particles come out! It only happens in the kitchen faucet so we are guessing it's not the hot water tank. My husband already looking at the o-rings under the sink and all look good, not stripped or anything (and one of them is white). What is causing these black particles? Obviously something black is deteriorating somewhere. Please help. Thank you :)

Even though its only in the kitchen sink faucet, I would still check the dip tube in the water heater. Most dip tubes are white or blue, but I have seen a few black. Are the pieces hard like plastic, or soft like rubber. If hard, I suspect dip tube, if soft I would think your on the right track checking faucet o-rings, also if soft, check the shut off valves under the sink, if one of the washers in the shut off valve is falling apart it will cause this. Please let us know what you find. Lee.

Hey Giggles,
Tell me more about your kitchen faucet. One handle or to kmobs? What's the brand name?: How old? I'm inclined to discount the dip tube. If you had a dip tube that's going bad you would see particles in more then one faucet.
Regards, Tom

Hi Tom,
It is a single handle faucet, the kind that you can pull out to spray things down and you can push a button on top to make it spray rather than a stream. We looked everywhere for the brand name and can't find it. Will have to keep looking. We moved in here 2 years ago and it looks pretty new but could be up to 10 years old because that's how old the house is.

OK! When you say hubby's " looking at the o-rings under the sink and all look good, not stripped or anything" What do you mean? That he took the valve apart and checked all the "O" rings? Did he turn the water back on to flush out the valve and supplies? Let me know, Tom

Hi Tom,
There aren't any valves under the sink, just pipe, and all the o-rings inside are white. There are black o-rings in the tap but none looked bad or disintegrated when rubbed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gigglepot

Hi Tom,
There aren't any valves under the sink, just pipe, and all the o-rings inside are white. There are black o-rings in the tap but none looked bad or disintegrated when rubbed.

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You
Re going to hafta clear that up for me. What "O" rings are all white and where are the black ones? Did he flush out the faucet and supplies? Tom

Will have to get back to you on that. I need to get more info.

Ok, my hubby said that the white o-ring was under the sink where the hot water hose and the faucet connect. The two black o-rings he checked were both in the faucet itself. One in the head just before the sprayer and the other just behind the head where the pull-out hose connects.

The ones he should be checking are inside the valve on the cartridge. Shut the water off and open up the faucet. Pull the cartridge and inspect the "O" rings. Now place a pan over the faucei and turn the water on for a few seconds to flush out the supplies. Any black bits coming out of the hot water supply? Let me know, Tom

Hi Tom,
Ok, I'll let him know all that. He did say it's probably the cartridge and wondered where he'd get a new one. Not sure if he knew he could open it and check o-rings in there. Thank you and I'll let you know :o)


Oh, I also wanted to let you know that those black bits are NOT hard nor rubbery. They are like charcoal and when pressed against the side of a cup, they disintegrate and leave a black streak.

OK Giggles,
How do the black particles get past the screen in the aerator? Are they that small?
Do you flush your water heater out on a regular maintenance schedule? If not here's how.
For long life and fewer troubles you should keep your heater clear of mineral build-up by FLUSHING NOT DRAINING on a regular schedule. Attach a hose to the boiler drain at the bottom of the tank. With the pressure on, open the boiler drain and let it run until the water runs clear. You will see a spurt of red,(rust) followed by white or yellow grains,(lime or calcium carbonate). This shouldn't take more then a few minutes. Do this monthly to keep it clear. Don't forget to flush it out every month. Your heater will thank you for it. Do it and let me know what comes out. Tom

Yes, the particles are tiny, smaller than coffee grinds. No, we haven't flushed the water heater out. I will tell him this too. After he checks the o-rings on the cartridge!

Ok, so we replaced the cartridge with a brand new one and still a ton of little black particles when the hot water is running! So I thought, maybe it's the hose leading to the pull out spout! So we disconnected it and stuck a long wooden skewer in and scraped around a bit, it came out black! The hose itself looks 'wet' from the outside so it must be deteriorating from the inside out! We found out a new hose will cost $45 and a brand new faucet is on sale for $55! I'll try the manufacturer and see what they say (Belanger has a lifetime limited warranty so we'll see if that includes the hose, it's less than 3 years old!) and then make a decision. Just thought I'd post all this in case someone else runs into this problem. Thanks for all the help!


Ok, back to the drawing board. We got a new cartridge, a new pull-out hose and an entirely new pull-out faucet head (all covered under warranty so thankfully didn't cost us anything). Still there are tiny little black particles in our hot water. What do you think we should try next?


Oh, and we found out it isn't a Belanger faucet, it's a "Pegasus".

When you flushed out your heater, you DID flush it out didn't you? Did any black particles show up? Have I asked? Do you have a water softener? Let me know, Tom

Nope, we didn't flush out the hot water tank. My husband insisted that wasn't the problem because the black particles are not in any other faucet of the house except the kitchen sink's. No water softener.

When you had the valve open to replace the parts did you turn the hot water back on for a few seconds to flush out the supply and open valve body? If not then give it a try and see if you can get the water to run clear. If it's not the heater, the "O"rings or the hose then it has to be minerals built up on the pipe walls. Let's try to isolate it. Shut the water off at the angle stop and disconnect the supply. Now draw a glass of hot water out of the angle stop. Any black particles come out of the angle stop? Let me know, Tom

Phew, it's been a long time! Ok, finally figured out what is causing the black bits. It wasn't the hot water tank or any 'o' ring. It was the hot water hose that connects the tap to the hot water hose under the sink. It was really gross inside, almost like carbon, BLACK! Ewwww, not sure what caused this but after months, we finally have clear hot water!

WE thank you for the update.
"Hot water hose"! That's a new one. Please explain. Is your kitchen sink being supplied by hoses? Let me know, Tom

Hi Tom. Im guessing they have flexable lav supplies. Ive never seen this problem either, but I can see where it could happen. The outer layer of the supply is usually braided stainless steel, but the inside is rubber(the ones I've cut apart are black rubber on the inside). So I suppose after years of use(all depending on the water) it could break down and cause this problem. Very good thing to store in my memory banks(limited at best) for future problems of the same nature.

Yes! 'Mygirlsdad77' has it correct. It's a hose about 18" long that connects to the hot water hose under the sink and attaches to the faucet. It's flexible and braided ss on the outside, black rubber (or something) on the inside. As far as I know this faucet is only 2-3 years old but then again we moved in here and it was already installed and looked brand new (a lot of other stuff was updated too but I could be wrong)! Anyway we are thrilled to have clean hot water again. Hope this post helps someone else in the future.