Green hair from Copper leaching in Water!

15 years ago

Hi everyone,

I bought a circa 1911 colonial with all original plumbing about 6 months ago. At the time of the water tests, everything was fine. A little on the acidic side, but fine otherwise. Copper levels were low. The house also had been vacant for several months, so not much movement of the water. And yes, we have well water.

Anyways, when I moved in, I discovered pinhole leaks in my copper pipes that run underneath my concrete bathroom floor, which sits above the wood runners in the downstairs hallway. Well, the plaster in the hallway right below the bathroom starting staining badly, and leaking. So, my boyfriend and I took it down (it actually came down pretty easily - there were 3 layers of plaster/blue board/wall board). Took it all down to the rafters so we could have the copper pipes fixed.

The plumber came over and replaced all the old copper pipes with new copper pipes, just underneath the bathroom, not the copper pipes leading all the way down to the first floor and into the basement.

Well, since then, our water has turned blue, has stained our tub and sink (old white porcelin) blue, and my hair - blue/green. I have to have my hair chemically stripped every 4 weeks (and I'm not one for the hairdressers) just to get out the copper. I also received an eye opening comment from a co-worker who said she secretly loved my new green-blue highlights. That was it for me. I'm determined to get this problem taken care of.

We also have copper plumbing to the kitchen, laundry room, and downstairs bathroom. Our dishwasher leaves a cloudy film on all the dishes. Even washing the wood floors with this water leaves a cloudy film, and I have to go over the floors with a dry towel to lift it up.

My question is this: Should I go replace all the copper pipes in my house with PVC or another recommended material? Or should I invest in a calcite neutralizer for now to hook into the downstairs water tank.

I recently had my water tested again (through a state certified water lab) that told me I have very high copper and the water was very acidic (5.9). So, what do you do...treat the acidic water that is causing the corrosion in the copper pipes, or change the copper pipes to PVC? or both?

Keep in mind, I'm on a tight budget. I don't mind ripping down a wall or two in order to take care of this problem - it's at the point where we want to take showers over our neighbors house. We are both very handy and can put back walls and repair/replaster/repaint them ourselves.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

:)

Comments (8)

alphonse
15 years ago
An acid neutraliser will solve the problem without tearing down walls.
Even if you replace with CPVC, PEX or the like, you will still have metal in the system (valves, mixers, etc.)
dan_martyn
15 years ago
First off, I think you have to step back and look at where and how the water test was performed. It sounds unusual to me that high levels of copper would be coming from the piping. Are you sure it is not coming from the well/ground water? If it is coming from the piping, water treatment will address the problem, whereas piping replacement adresses the symptom.

Hope that helps,

Dan Martyn
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wa8b
15 years ago
Millions of homes have copper plumbing with no ill effects. I suspect the problem lies with your well water. Changes in the weather (as in more rain or less rain) can affect the quality of ground water. If your water has unusually high in levels of copper, it must be leaching into the ground water. Are you living someplace that might have old mining trailings or slag from smelting lying around? All sorts of bad stuff can leach out of those sorts of things for many decades or even longer. It seems highly unlikely your plumbing would the culprit.
brickeyee
15 years ago
"It sounds unusual to me that high levels of copper would be coming from the piping."

Low pH water is well known for attacking copper.

The old pipes may have formed an internal coating before the water pH changed protecting them.

The new pipes have no coating and cannot form one in an acid environment.

The same thing actually happens with lead pipe.
A coating forms and the water never touches the lead.

In Washington, DC they cleaned up the water a little to well and started having huge lead problems.
They are now adding orthophosphate to the water and the lead levels have fallen back to essentially zero as the coating was restored.
clover8
Original Author
15 years ago
The place where I am living dates back to the late 1600s. There were two previous houses on this field stone fondation, that had burnt to the ground. The records date back to when this house was homestead to the surrounding 100 acres (I have 5.1), where is was all farmland. I don't think there was any mining operations or smelting going on, but I don't know for sure. My well is directly next to several huge pine trees (if that helps). I know pine trees are said to make the soil around them acidic, but would that be enough to be causing the large copper deposits I'm experiencing?

I was also told by my state well inspector, that the new copper piping does not have that protective layer that the old pipes have. Therefore, I may be seeing an increase in copper deposits due to that.

So, what do I do? Do I rip out all the new copper pipes, and replace them with PVC? I can't wait 2 or 3 years for this microbial protective layer to grow within the pipes. My thoughts are that I have to get an acid neutralizer (to treat the incoming well water which is naturally acidic), and then slowly replace the copper pipes with PVC (to prevent future degeneration of the pipes, pinhole leaks, etc.).

Now, I'm thinking I may need a water softener on top of the acid neutralizer. Man, I never knew all the problems with well water and I wish I did, because it would have factored into the purchase and sales agreement.

What would you all do?

Thanks in advance for your response and the insightful responses I've already received.
suburbanmd
15 years ago
A calcite neutralizer is no big deal. Ours does make the water a little bit hard, but not so much that we have to soften it.
maryland_irisman
15 years ago
I agree with the other posters here on the possible problems. I would suggest you get another test of the well water by taking a sample from a source BEFORE the repair. If the metal content is low, then a water conditioning system would help. It's my personal opinion you should stay away from sodium systems. They are very effective but the health ramifications are becoming widely known. The calcite as mentioned by "suburbanmd" would be a better choice. Do you have a swimming pool? Chlorine will do the same to blonde hair...turn it green or give green highlights. Where you live in the country can also be an issue. Copper is quite abundent. Here in Maryland, there are areas where any well you drill, will be through copper ore. Most rocky or shale beds will be acidic also. While you're at it, you should have the well checked for radon also since acidic wells are prone to radon because of the pockets caused by rocky or clay substrate.
HU-607126105
2 years ago
ePIPE! high levels ARE found in copper pipes and solder fixes over the years. ePIPE IS a solutuon. their process is coating pipes in place with their epoxy. water never touches the pipes again and pipe life is extended over 60 years!

Green hair from Copper leaching in Water!

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Green hair from Copper leaching in Water!

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alphonse

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