Foamy Water?

Keith · Aug 25, 2012

Recently my water comes out foamy and smelling a bit like peppermint. The water pressure at the hose bib is 65 psi and my regulator drops it to 45 psi. This seemed to start when I put in a new water hose. It's the white potable water hose from West Marine. They recently increased the water pressure at the marina. Could the increased pressure be causing this, or maybe I have a bad hose? It's really hot, low 90's during the day. If I run the water for 4-5 minutes, it stops foaming and returns to normal taste and smell.

Nomad Willy · Aug 25, 2012

Keith,
Air leak at a hose fitting causing airiation?

Forkliftt · Aug 25, 2012

manyboats said:
Keith,
Air leak at a hose fitting causing airiation?

Seems like an explanation, but his new hose and valve are well past the "pump", and I think to introduce air you would need a leak prior to the "pump". Course, he's getting water from an elevated water tank I suppose. Maybe a restriction in your regulator? Maybe try removing it temporarily?

rwidman · Aug 25, 2012

manyboats said:
Keith,
Air leak at a hose fitting causing airiation?

With water under pressure, a leak would cause water to leak out, not cause air to leak in.

OP -Disconnect the hose at the boat, then run water into a clean bucket. Still have the problem? If so, unhook the hose at the supply end and run water directly into a clean bucket.

There are only three possibilities:

1) A problem with the water supply.
2) A problem with your new hose.
3) A problem with the boat's potable water system.

Following the troubleshooting proceedure above will determine where the problem is.

motion30 · Aug 25, 2012

Mine does that as well I think it is the heat and the hose Let the water run and see if it clears up

Nomad Willy · Aug 25, 2012

"With water under pressure, a leak would cause water to leak out, not cause air to leak in."

Unless you've got gravity feed w considerable pressure there will be suction on the inlet side of the pump. I thought that was obvious.

rwidman · Aug 25, 2012

manyboats said:
"With water under pressure, a leak would cause water to leak out, not cause air to leak in."

Unless you've got gravity feed w considerable pressure there will be suction on the inlet side of the pump. I thought that was obvious.

There is no mention in the original post of a pump so I stand by my statement.

BruceK · Aug 26, 2012

Keith said:
Recently my water comes out foamy and smelling a bit like peppermint. The water pressure at the hose bib is 65 psi and my regulator drops it to 45 psi. This seemed to start when I put in a new water hose. They recently increased the water pressure at the marina. Could the increased pressure be causing this,

When I read the first bit I thought this was a personal medical issue,but I see it`s not.You`ve got 2 things which changed, your hose and the marina`s pressure.
Have you checked if other boats on the marina have similar issues? Sounds like bad water upstream which clears after it runs a while. Is the water hot as well as foamy, if so does it cool as it runs? Is upping the pressure really all the marina did? BruceK

RickB · Aug 26, 2012

Keith said:
Recently my water comes out foamy and smelling a bit like peppermint.

It's really hot, low 90's during the day. If I run the water for 4-5 minutes, it stops foaming and returns to normal taste and smell.

It sounds like the new hose is "outgassing" because the water temperature inside is so hot. That probably explains the smell.

High temperature causes the dissolved air that is naturally in the water to come out of solution. Higher pressure means that more air can be dissolved in the water at the start.

Running the water for a few minutes allows cooler water from the buried mains to reach your system and the symptoms go away. Wait for Winter.

Andy G · Aug 28, 2012

BruceK said:
When I read the first bit I thought this was a personal medical issue,

Thank god it's not, a frothy discharge at 65psi smelling of peppermint

rwidman · Aug 28, 2012

It would be interesting to know if the OP ever diagnosed his problem and what the results were.

Keith · Aug 28, 2012

I will let you guys know. I think it's the high water pressure as RickB said, but I have to do more testing. I had thought that the potable water hoses would never leach anything into the water, like the peppermint smell I have, but here it is. I'm going to do the various tests others have mentioned, but I suspect a variable pressure reducer will be the answer/final test. I'll keep you posted.

RickB · Aug 28, 2012

Keith said:
but I suspect a variable pressure reducer will be the answer/final test. I'll keep you posted.

I should have made it more clear that the foaming is caused directly by the reducing valve. As the water pressure drops across the valve, the dissolved gases in the hot water are released very quickly and produce the foaming. If the pressure drop was less - as it was before the marina increased the water pressure - or the temperature was lower, as it is after running for a bit, the foaming is less noticeable or non existent.

All plastics will off gas to some extent, the chemicals that make it "plastic" eventually leave the hose, in your case it leaves quickly in the heat and gets absorbed by the hot water.

rwidman · Aug 28, 2012

I made a suggestion above on how to tell if the problem was the new hose, but another way to troubleshoot this issue if you suspect the hose, is to put the old hose back into service or borrow a potable water hose from a slip neighbor.

For anyone who connects a water hose from the dockside spigot to their boat and leaves it pressurized, it's probably important to note that this is usually against the hose manufacturer's useage instructions. These hoses are not meant to remain pressurized to 60+ PSI, especially when laid out in direct sun in warm weather.

Many of the hoses at my marina that are owned by the marina and used by transients have either burst or had the ends blown off from leaving them pressurized in the sun.

FF · Aug 29, 2012

I made an interesting discovery operating our new trailer boat.

The boat was winterized with the pink stuff and on the hard for a year or two before I purchased her.

Sloppy pink stuff in the head area had dried to a hard pink substance.

The folks must have also filled the HW heater with 10gal of pink .

After the system was emptied and flushed , after the first run , the HW stank and still smelled and looked slightly pink.

Took 4 heat and dump cycles to not smell.

So my experience shows that the pink can come out of solution.

A wet sponge for a few days made the hard pink soften enough that it could be scraped off in the head area.

Who knew?

FF

rwidman · Aug 29, 2012

I considered that contamination with non-toxic antifreeze might have caused the symptoms the OP is having, but he made no mention of any use of the product or "dewinterizing".

Narrowing his problem down to the marina water supply, the hose, or his boat is such a simple process that it could have been done quicker than logging in and posting.

If it's the marina water supply, it's the marina's problem. If it's the hose, it can be returned as defective. If it's problem on the boat, that can get complicated. But, you have to figure out where the problem is before you set out to fix it.

motion30 · Aug 29, 2012

I recently had this exact same problem It was the hose, made worse but the heat of the sun Yes the hose was a drinking water hose Changed the hose problem gone

JD · Aug 29, 2012

rwidman said:
I considered that contamination with non-toxic antifreeze might have caused the symptoms the OP is having, but he made no mention of any use of the product or "dewinterizing".QUOTE]

You are correct. The boat is in TX and Keith is a live aboard I believe. So there should be no pink stuff to contend with.

The two items changed were the hose and marina water pressure. I'd borrow a hose from some close and eliminate that rather quickly.

Foamy Water?

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