Apparently new galvanized pipe has some kind of oil or something in it that imparts an oily/gassy odor and flavor to the water that passes through it now days. I've just finished putting new galvanized pipe in the kitchen area of our old ranch house and discovered that it is probably the pipe that is doing this. I'd renovated the bathroom about a year and a half ago and attributed this to the really cheap faucet I'd put in as this was one of the complaints about this line of faucets that I found after the fact.

Since all the pipe in the old house is galvanized and approaching at least a half century in age I never thought this was going to be a problem. Is there anything I can do to "shock" the system to clean the pipes out? The ranch house is on a well so the water is not treated in any way and tastes perfectly fine - good and sweet - in all the other parts of the house and out in the yard. It's just the new piping that has this problem.

Thanks.

Oil is used to cut the threads on the pipe and it gets inside the pipe while doing it. If it was not cleaned out after threading, which is usually the case, you just have to wait until it flushes out from the water flowing through the pipe.

hj is exactly correct, I can still smell that Sulphur smell in my memory.

read and follow all precautions...

is that for use before or after the pipe is installed?

Well water is "sweet"?

some - if the well is 'good' and the aquifer is fed by glacial melt

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

before... but since the pipe is installed already, i guess it is now for after..

Whoa! So many replies all at once.

No, the well water is better than anything we have in town. Good and sweet. All other lines that have been in the house and surroundings since the 60s, and often well beyond, have galvanized pipe going to them and the water is still good coming out of them. It's just the new stuff I've put in over the past couple of years.

I did use a little WD-40 for cutting oil when I was making the nipples but nothing really got into the pipe itself and I cleaned the threads off really well. I also used teflon tape for a thread sealer. This odor and taste doesn't remind me of WD-40, though.

If I can figure out a way to inject Simple Green into the lines in a high enough dose rate and let it sit for a while maybe this will fix itself.

Thanks.

I wonder if your gas supplier had ABS gas lines. We had them here and the utility had to replace many of them due to deterioration. They still have "sniffer trucks" to drive the gas line routes to check for leaks, and often find them.

If you used WD-40 for "cutting oil", I am surprised you did not have a lot of leaks, because that is NOT a proper lubricant.

Having worked in and on a tube mill, I can understand there being a bad taste. I think that folks were so happy to not have to lug water from the well, they put up with the taste. I would have opted for something like copper.

Chicago Heights, Illinois, used to have water that smelled like rotten eggs. The whole houses reeked of it, but the people were so used to it, that they apparently did not notice it.

Well, I finally got a working drain constructed under the sink so I was able to do a good bit of flushing of the lines. Eventually the taste did improve and I don't smell the odor like I do in the bathroom. I think this is because the amount of pipe used under the kitchen sink is about 25% of what's in the bathroom. I had to make some long lines that snaked around the bathtub to get to the only place I could put a water heater and back again plus going over to the sink. I'd be willing to bet the problem will continue in the kitchen whenever its not in use between hunting seasons but flushing it will take care of it. I sort of panicked when I experienced the same problem in the kitchen as the bathroom since I'd always attributed it to the cheap faucet.

Copper would have been nice but I have much less experience with it than I do galvanized. Both can be used to create a "Steam Punk" look which was what I was aiming for so I may try that some day in the future. But as old as that house is I'm afraid I'd burn it down plus making a mistake with copper isn't quite as easy to fix as unscrewing galvanized and substituting a different length nipple. It's all a matter of practice, though.



Edited 1 times.