I have a 100+ year old house which originally had galvanized pipe. I replaced all with copper except one that ran up through the walls to a second story bath. Now have noticed that we are getting stains ( green pink) in our tub and stool. The water tastes terrible from the sink. Any suggestions beyond tearing up the bath floor where one of the galv/ cop connections are. I can access the galv/ cop connection in the lower level. If I put a dielectric fitting in the connection at the lower level, will I still need to in the upper level?
The stains you are seeing is caused by the replacement of the old pipes. When you installed new pipes pressure most likely increased and it is knocking off sediment previously contained in the galvanized pipe. The stains are just high iron. This should disappear shortly. You could also add a whole house carbon water filter that will filter out this iron out of the water. You ALWAYS need a dielectic fitting when transitioning between galvanized and copper.
No, there's no danger of the drinking water being contaminated from this union. The only problem this will pose would be the interaction of dissimilar metals touching each other. It sets up a chemical reaction that can result in corrosion at that point. However, this takes a long time to get to a point where it could cause any problem whatsoever.
I think I'd fish PEX, up along the existing galv. and abandon it in place.
The stains you are seeing is caused by the replacement of the old pipes. When you installed new pipes pressure most likely increased and it is knocking off sediment previously contained in the galvanized pipe. The stains are just high iron. This should disappear shortly. You could also add a whole house carbon water filter that will filter out this iron out of the water. You ALWAYS need a dielectic fitting when transitioning between galvanized and copper.
No, there's no danger of the drinking water being contaminated from this union. The only problem this will pose would be the interaction of dissimilar metals touching each other. It sets up a chemical reaction that can result in corrosion at that point. However, this takes a long time to get to a point where it could cause any problem whatsoever.
I think I'd fish PEX, up along the existing galv. and abandon it in place.
