Supply water choice

[Forkliftt]

Greetings all,
My Gfriend has gotten in the habit of turning on water faucets when we arrive after several days of not being aboard. The purpose, she has repeatedly pointed out, was to clear out the red tinted water that comes out initially.
I realize now I should have taken this more seriously. I picked up a new "drinking water safe" 50' hose from WM and installed it. Same product as the last one. I couldn't believe the dark red water still left in this hose that came out. What is going on here????

 

[Russell Clifton]

I would run some of the dock water into a white plastic bucket without using the hose and see if it is your water source. If that looks ok, attach your hose and fill the bucket. Now you know if it is the water or the hose or neither. Good luck.

 

[psneeld]

Red or green can be algae...

Buy running it inot a bucket sounds right.

I will never own a white RV/Marine hose again...just more issues than less.

Yes, I know the worriers out there talk about lead in hoses.....guess what .....there are many better choices in hoses that are drinking water safe than the old and way outdated white hoses.

 

[FF]

If you winterized with "drinkable" anti freeze the red color can be leftovers in the pipe system.

 

[Ski in NC]

Lots of water from wells has super high concentration of reduced iron. Once exposed to air, the iron oxidizes and turns red. Common issue in the South of USA, my well included. I try to avoid filling my tank with it unless run through a water softener.

 

[ulysses]

Lots of water from wells has super high concentration of reduced iron. Once exposed to air, the iron oxidizes and turns red. Common issue in the South of USA, my well included. I try to avoid filling my tank with it unless run through a water softener.

Very good answer as far as water quality is concerned. That certainly may be the issue they are dealing with. I would add that chlorine is an oxidizer so not only will the Iron (or manganese) participate out of the water with air, chlorine will also allow it to form red particles. This iron and manganese loading can also be related to a seasonal (spring and fall) overturns of lakes, ponds, and surface water during their overturns. Naturally occurring during leaf decomp.

 

[CaptTom]

Just so we're clear, you say you "installed" a drinking water hose so I'm assuming you leave the shore water hose hooked up all the time, not just fill the on-board tank when it gets low.

You also say it's red "initially" which implies that the red goes away after running the tap for a while.

This is not unusual. That water was sitting for several days in the plumbing on board, in the hose, in the pipe or hose leading to your dock, in the marina plumbing, and wherever else. You might see the same thing at home if you don't run the water for a long time.

As to your question about the source, it could be any of the above. Next time, remove the hose and open the spigot on the dock. If that's clear, re-connect the hose to the dock and run the clear water through the hose. If that's clear, re-connect to the boat.

While it could be red bacteria in the hose, that's the last place I'd suspect. My prime suspect would be iron or steel pipes or fittings, either in the marina or in the boat.

Personally, I removed my shore water hose connections. I always let the water run for a good long time before filling my own tank, then run from there. But I don't really want to drag that debate out into the light of day again; search the forum if interested.

Finally, West Marine does not manufacture white hoses. The only thing I'd accuse them of is charging three times what the same hose from the RV section of WalMart costs.

 

[Forkliftt]

Update,
A few months back I switched over to the Camco water hose listed. All problems solved. Thanks for the participation all .