Letter - Watch your water

To the editor:

At my present location, our first water heater was installed in 1970 and lasted until 1992 when it started leaking underneath. That one was replaced with a new one, which lasted until 2004 and once again started to leak from underneath. I just replaced it again (less than eight years). No, it wasn’t leaking. My hot water was losing pressure and it finally wouldn’t heat anymore at all.

An appliance repairman checked the heater and controls and said it appeared to be A-OK. He and I proceeded to drain off water from the tank: a gray, cloudy-looking water and some of the most yucky, ishy-looking residue that is just plain scary looking.

The thought that I was washing clothes, bathing, cooking, etc. with that awful stuff made me think, “No way!” I had a new tank put in.

The gas man told me they see more and more of this. It’s causing heating problems and totally plugging hot water pipes. He said they call it “blue goo” and wonder what it is and/or what causes it. It appears over time in water heaters, apparently during the heating and storage of the water.

Are manufacturers putting inferior products in water heaters nowadays? I first noticed a grayish cloudiness to my hot water maybe the last year or so. I never wondered why; I assumed it was just part of the heating. It’s a blue-gray water and appears to have crystals in it. I’d like to have a chemist tell me what it is, what causes it, and is it dangerous if it is ingested? I have some samples.

Gunnar Linder

Alexandria, MN

Tags: opinion, letters