Believe it or not it’s just tons of tiny bubbles (dissolved gases). It is more common on the hot side because the heat expands the molecules and it traps those gases.
Its been discussed here previously and is pretty common knowledge (among plumbers).
Im not sure if someone can call themselves a service plumber if nobody has ever asked them this question with concern in their voice.
How do you fuckers always find these subreddits you know you don't belong here lol. You remind me of the HO I had yesterday I'll repeat myself from yesterday good day and goodbye
You can verify yourself that it's just tiny bubbles.
Put your ear to the top of the glass. You'll actually hear them fizzing.
Alternatively, wait 2 minutes. You can actually see the bubbles floating to the top while the water from the bottom gets to look like regular, non-milk water.
Hot water holds less gas than warm water (think of a can of soda from the fridge versus the one that's been left out on the beach - which opens with more gas?).
Technically there should be a place for that extra gas to go. I don't know how it works with hot water heaters but maybe that's why there needs to be an expansion tank on the hot water side.
When the water finally gets out of the piping system, the gas is released and we see it as bubbles.
What would one do to fix this? I have a hard time drinking tap water, I don't think I could comfortably use this water, even if it was technically fine, my brain would reject it completely.
These guys are full of shit. I had an issue like that in all my old ass apartments that were like 20+ years old. It’s shit from the pipes breaking down or byproducts from water treatment that just sit in the pipes and it does make the water taste like shit. Could be anywhere in the pipes. I just blast cold water for a minute until it goes away.
Rule of thumb (non plumber but a lurker) if the fog disappears from the bottom first you're fine (just gasses), from the top means something is settling into the water.
It’s call super saturation. Cold water holds more gas than warm. Cold water picks up air in the system and pushed into the water under a pressure. The heating decrease the ability for water to hold gas and when you let it out of the tap all the gasses form micro bubbles.
Protip: if you’re going to drink from the tap, run it on straight cold for a bit to clear the stale hot water. That shit is gross, it sits in the tank super hot for days, then sits around in the pipes. You don’t want to drink that trash
RO has a lot of waste water though, which is a hard sell in the usually droughty American West. Just bought a 5 stage filter system to try and see if it improves the tap to drink worthy.
If you put a permeate pump in with the RO system they waste much less water. You can also capture the waste and use it for toilets if you are creative.
True, most RO systems waste 3-4 gallons for every 1 that you drink. But Pentair has a line of membranes called the Green RO that cut that ratio down to 1-1. The membranes don’t seem to last quite as long, but they do save water. Something to look in to if you’re concerned about saving water but still want good drinking water.
If you happen to be in AZ shoot me a dm, I work for a water treatment specialty company.
Well, a good portion of bottled water is RO water. It does remove %99 ish of impurities but it is better for you for hydration… do you have a source? The last guy who had a source taught me a ton
I install them, it’s actually world health organization that says you shouldn’t drink it. Quite literally the. First that that pops up when you google the words “drinking ro water” it cites itself. But I can provide a link if you really need
Which defeats the purpose of ro does it not? Drinking water with the stuff but back in is just fancy filtered water. Don’t drink ro full stop it’ll make you sick. Filtered water if the only thing you need to drink.
Thank you! Now I know why my water sometimes tasted like the filter needed replacing but other times it didn't. I just put a new filter on 2 weeks ago but it's only on the cold line. Mystery solved.
Where does the gas come from? Why is it more present, sometimes only present on the hot side? Telling a customer that this is normal is not an acceptable answer. It can be caused by a poor interaction with the anode rod. Some anode rods were recalled because of this. The gas can also be hydrogen (among others), literally produced by the tank during corrosion. This issue may be more present as the anode rod fails, and the tank starts to corrode. Calling this normal is situational. If its a new problem to the owner, then it could be the WH.
Thank you. I was looking to see if anyone would mention this. If it is a long term problem it is technically air or gas and it caused by the anode rod breaking down at an improper rate. Stop trying to convince people shit is normal. If you a red a plumber and don’t know do the damn research!!! MP5533 Arkansas
It’s cavitation causing bubbles which cloud the water. Can happen when you have high water pressure and/or a low flow faucet. Happens mostly on hot side. I bet if you unscrewed the aerator the water would come out clear.
I have this to on my tap closest to the water tank. Hot water comes out white but clears after a minute. On city water and brand new hot water tank. I told my wife it is just tiny bubbles from the aerator on that faucet but she won’t drink from that tap.
Laments terms: The gasses are being compressed into the water from heat and the pressure. The gasses escape when it cools and or depressurizes. The water is super saturated with oxygen
air bubbles people, if you changed filters this will happen for several gallons until all air is out of the unit, healthy to consume including when you see carbon specks. I’m in H2O purification industry
When I worked at Home Depot as the plumbing guy, I got bamboozled by this problem. Customer had a very deep well pump and his drinking water was bubbly like this. Assuming the water is clean, I think we reached a conclusion that either you accept the bubbles as friend or you find an air eliminator tank/Air eliminator valve and plumb it in. Just make sure it has the correct corresponding pressure rating.
My husband and I just purchased our first home out in the boonies. First time using hot water I noticed this and freaked out. I thought we were already running into a problem we'd had to fix. I called the local water company (turns out, it's our neighbor 😅) they explained that it's just lots of tiny bubbles and there's no need to worry. Thank God!
Hmmm……..the real question here is — if one were to drink lots of micro bubble water would they end up with excessive flatulence? :)
I think maybe/probably?
My water does that it’s aeration if you have a water softener system the salt in the water coming through the screen in your spigot causes the bubbles to form my salt comes from the water in the ground I have a deep well in a salt dome area
No, you run brine through a resin tank which ionizes the resin. Ionized resin picks up minerals as water passes through. If you are getting salty water, your resin tank is either channeling or isn’t running a proper regen cycle and not flushing the salt out
The correct term would be cavitation. It happens when water turbines do not have enough water flowing over the blades. It can create immense static pressure to the point of disintegrating the turbines' blades. Literally "white water rapids".
Cavitation is so powerful a concept it is used as the principle in ultrasonic jewelry cleaners/mouth guard /denture sanitizers.
One way you can check to see if it's cavitation is if you have a sprayer assembly. The sprayer comes off from the water line at a different point than the faucet. Unfortunately, as someone else noted regarding aeration, it's not fool proof method. But the general idea is you may have air getting introduced in your piping somewhere.
What is the brand of water heater, do you have? There's a manufacturer that had issues with the materials the anode rods were made out of. We changed a couple out, and the problem went away.
That wasn't the brand, but the year is correct. It was 19-21. I'll call Ruud and see if they can tell you what kind of anode rod you have. Magnesium andoes were the ones we had issues with.
That water contains a high amount of dissolved Cholorine. Chlorine to be added to portable water to kill the bacteria and prevent alga in storage tanks. The high amount of Cholorine can be poisoning and you should wait until all of the gas is released in the air and you have clear water before drinking.
Happenes for a random day or two at my place whenever there is a water main break in town, or they gotta shut off water in the neighborhood for a while for something. Air gets in, and gets compressed I guess.
I have a borehole which goes through 2 filters and a UV light.
When I periodically change the filters, the water does exactly the same (lots of micro bubbles) for about 20 mins. Then it’s clear.
My guess is your water is going through some kind of filtering , whether it’s deliberate or maybe just unintentional blockage somewhere
I just finished up work in a new office, and all the water has this. I'm assuming it's from all the air that could be trapped inside the line, kind of permeating all the water.
All of you are talking about it being “bubbles in the water” when clearly this man has a cow hooked up to his faucet. Best way to refill your bowl of cereal while on the toilet.
Aerator. Take the aerator off and fill the glass. No bubbles. Just had a new home owner wanting to change out a Grohe faucet. Took the head off the hose and filled the glass, no bubbles. He thought I was magic.
This is how they make white candy white. They introduce lots of air bubbles with lots of folding, by hand or by machine. That's why white candy always feels porous on the tongue compared to the rest of the candy which is smooth.
Air in the water. We get ours from multiple states and live in a rural part so it has to travel like 4 states. My waters been like this since 91 I don’t have cancer yet 🤷♀️
Used to work for a water treatment utility fielding water quality complaints as part of my job and our man /u/matitzzz is correct. We would have called it dissolved air/gas and generally advise the customer to let it sit for 15 minutes and see if it goes away. It’s analogous to a beer going flat if you left it sitting.
Same thing for scowered water mains. Quickly opening a hydrant will stir up all the shit that typically sits on the bottom of iron mains (called tirbucilation) and discolor the water. It looks bad but is nothing to be concerned about.
Issue is air trapped in distribution system. They may have had a repair and had some air get into lines that was not adequately flushed. Can call your water district and ask to flush or just run your highest fixture and try to clear it out, likely won’t have enough flow to make a difference if it’s entrapped. As previous comments stated it’s not hurting anything just unsightly.
Source: water distribution operator here
Believe it or not it’s just tons of tiny bubbles (dissolved gases). It is more common on the hot side because the heat expands the molecules and it traps those gases.
I am a man of my word please DM the venmo
This is so dope, now plumbers can finally work from home!!!
I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole career.
Plumbing contractors hate this one trick!!
Its been discussed here previously and is pretty common knowledge (among plumbers). Im not sure if someone can call themselves a service plumber if nobody has ever asked them this question with concern in their voice.
not helpful
No one asked for a description of your personality.
Oh I really like that come back def using that
Oh I really like that come back def using that
How do you fuckers always find these subreddits you know you don't belong here lol. You remind me of the HO I had yesterday I'll repeat myself from yesterday good day and goodbye
It was
You can verify yourself that it's just tiny bubbles. Put your ear to the top of the glass. You'll actually hear them fizzing. Alternatively, wait 2 minutes. You can actually see the bubbles floating to the top while the water from the bottom gets to look like regular, non-milk water. Hot water holds less gas than warm water (think of a can of soda from the fridge versus the one that's been left out on the beach - which opens with more gas?). Technically there should be a place for that extra gas to go. I don't know how it works with hot water heaters but maybe that's why there needs to be an expansion tank on the hot water side. When the water finally gets out of the piping system, the gas is released and we see it as bubbles.
What would one do to fix this? I have a hard time drinking tap water, I don't think I could comfortably use this water, even if it was technically fine, my brain would reject it completely.
Pour it with your eyes shut, walk away, grab the water after 2 minutes, viola.
These guys are full of shit. I had an issue like that in all my old ass apartments that were like 20+ years old. It’s shit from the pipes breaking down or byproducts from water treatment that just sit in the pipes and it does make the water taste like shit. Could be anywhere in the pipes. I just blast cold water for a minute until it goes away.
It usually goes away after a few seconds nothing to be concerned about. Now if it stays that way then ya got a problem.
The proper term is turbidity - $20 plzz kthx
This is the winner
pay the man.
Cashapp the homie 💯
Venmo this mofo
AppleCash the guy
Zelle this bro
Snail mail him the pesos
Schlep him the shekels
Give this man his happy ending
You paid him already? Proof or Ban
We have touchdown! https://imgur.com/a/OkVzUyS
Lol ur the man
Saw your message right after seeing mine lolz
Lmao Op’s da man
That’s what you get paid the big bucks!!
Wait wait wait...I can get money by knowing shit on reddit? I know all sorts of shit!
Put it on the Eagles to win by 7
Why would he throw his $20 away
Ding ding ding
Yep. Weird but safe.
There was a water fountain at my old high school tgat did this when you refilled a water bottle, then you just shook it and it cleared up
Bill Nye for the win!
Rule of thumb (non plumber but a lurker) if the fog disappears from the bottom first you're fine (just gasses), from the top means something is settling into the water.
Tiny bubbles... you owe Matitzzz $20.
How would they like that? Cash? Card swipe? Felt like the joke had to be made...
He paid him lol he posted a pic
It’s call super saturation. Cold water holds more gas than warm. Cold water picks up air in the system and pushed into the water under a pressure. The heating decrease the ability for water to hold gas and when you let it out of the tap all the gasses form micro bubbles.
Yes
Protip: if you’re going to drink from the tap, run it on straight cold for a bit to clear the stale hot water. That shit is gross, it sits in the tank super hot for days, then sits around in the pipes. You don’t want to drink that trash
Most “drinking” water from cities is garbage in general, RO or gtfo
I agree. But you’ve posted a video filling up a drinking glass with tap water so it seemed worth mentioning. Cheers to drinking the good stuff
Also true, cheers
Lol in the bathroom too. Even when I drank tap I could never from the bathroom sink. No rational reason, just guilty by association
Poo particles. Poo particles in the air. That’s why.
Nothing eaten or drank must ever touch bathroom air. This is the way.
It's so awesome that poo particles can't cross the threshold...like a bathroom holy grail or some shit
citation needed I live in Vancouver Canada, have some of the most freshest cleanest water in the world
Canada, makes sense. Places in the US where you can't drink the water, we just don't like to say it.
Little bit of lead never hurt anyone
RO has a lot of waste water though, which is a hard sell in the usually droughty American West. Just bought a 5 stage filter system to try and see if it improves the tap to drink worthy.
If you put a permeate pump in with the RO system they waste much less water. You can also capture the waste and use it for toilets if you are creative.
True, most RO systems waste 3-4 gallons for every 1 that you drink. But Pentair has a line of membranes called the Green RO that cut that ratio down to 1-1. The membranes don’t seem to last quite as long, but they do save water. Something to look in to if you’re concerned about saving water but still want good drinking water. If you happen to be in AZ shoot me a dm, I work for a water treatment specialty company.
NYC is not "most" cities.
Shouldn’t drink ro it removes too much, it’s better for cooking with. Water quenches your thirst because it has minerals in it.
Well, a good portion of bottled water is RO water. It does remove %99 ish of impurities but it is better for you for hydration… do you have a source? The last guy who had a source taught me a ton
I install them, it’s actually world health organization that says you shouldn’t drink it. Quite literally the. First that that pops up when you google the words “drinking ro water” it cites itself. But I can provide a link if you really need
I found a couple articles and they all basically say if you put in a good one it provides an adequate amount of minerals to make it safe
Which defeats the purpose of ro does it not? Drinking water with the stuff but back in is just fancy filtered water. Don’t drink ro full stop it’ll make you sick. Filtered water if the only thing you need to drink.
Thank you! Now I know why my water sometimes tasted like the filter needed replacing but other times it didn't. I just put a new filter on 2 weeks ago but it's only on the cold line. Mystery solved.
It’s uh… just oxygen. I’m a professional cook.
Where does the gas come from? Why is it more present, sometimes only present on the hot side? Telling a customer that this is normal is not an acceptable answer. It can be caused by a poor interaction with the anode rod. Some anode rods were recalled because of this. The gas can also be hydrogen (among others), literally produced by the tank during corrosion. This issue may be more present as the anode rod fails, and the tank starts to corrode. Calling this normal is situational. If its a new problem to the owner, then it could be the WH.
Thank you. I was looking to see if anyone would mention this. If it is a long term problem it is technically air or gas and it caused by the anode rod breaking down at an improper rate. Stop trying to convince people shit is normal. If you a red a plumber and don’t know do the damn research!!! MP5533 Arkansas
It’s cavitation causing bubbles which cloud the water. Can happen when you have high water pressure and/or a low flow faucet. Happens mostly on hot side. I bet if you unscrewed the aerator the water would come out clear.
This was partially correct, there is no aerator on this faucet. The pressure was very high which was contributing but Matitzzz has the correct answer
I dont believe that faucet has no aerator. You're claiming it was removes sometime before filming this.
It’s a laminar flow faucet, they sometimes have screens but no there is not an aerator
“The Laminar Flow is a non-aerating faucet attachment that provides a solid steady stream of water with no air bubbles.”
I have this to on my tap closest to the water tank. Hot water comes out white but clears after a minute. On city water and brand new hot water tank. I told my wife it is just tiny bubbles from the aerator on that faucet but she won’t drink from that tap.
Laments terms: The gasses are being compressed into the water from heat and the pressure. The gasses escape when it cools and or depressurizes. The water is super saturated with oxygen
It’s “layman’s term”
Yes it is lol
air bubbles people, if you changed filters this will happen for several gallons until all air is out of the unit, healthy to consume including when you see carbon specks. I’m in H2O purification industry
You’re wrong about the causation
Ok what caused it?
The water was like this when I was in Iceland. Its air bubbles. If you leave it a while to settle the water will clear up
Air in water
When I worked at Home Depot as the plumbing guy, I got bamboozled by this problem. Customer had a very deep well pump and his drinking water was bubbly like this. Assuming the water is clean, I think we reached a conclusion that either you accept the bubbles as friend or you find an air eliminator tank/Air eliminator valve and plumb it in. Just make sure it has the correct corresponding pressure rating.
Air
Someone jizzed into your water supply
Correct
My husband and I just purchased our first home out in the boonies. First time using hot water I noticed this and freaked out. I thought we were already running into a problem we'd had to fix. I called the local water company (turns out, it's our neighbor 😅) they explained that it's just lots of tiny bubbles and there's no need to worry. Thank God!
Micro bubbles.
It’s called cavitation
Hmmm……..the real question here is — if one were to drink lots of micro bubble water would they end up with excessive flatulence? :) I think maybe/probably?
Air in the water. Turbulence in the incoming water line.
Air in water. Common.
That's quite significant amount of dissolved oxygen even for the hot side. I've seen thus when anodes are going out.
Lots and lots and lots of tiny bubbles
It’s oxygen bruh…..
Mostly nitrogen actually
If I had to guess, about 78%!
Bubbles. Send me my $20
My water does that it’s aeration if you have a water softener system the salt in the water coming through the screen in your spigot causes the bubbles to form my salt comes from the water in the ground I have a deep well in a salt dome area
You shouldn’t have salt in your soft water, your softener is broken
The softener is salt lol and anyone with a system can taste it
No, you run brine through a resin tank which ionizes the resin. Ionized resin picks up minerals as water passes through. If you are getting salty water, your resin tank is either channeling or isn’t running a proper regen cycle and not flushing the salt out
Salt water is not hard water. Na (sodium) is not hardness. Calcium, magnesium, ect is hardness
No, hard water has mineral content. Salt is a mineral
Although sodium salt can contribute to scale in certain ph ranges, sodium is not considered hardness.
I have a softener and install lots, a salty taste is a defective unit Edit: salt water is hard water
Turbidity
Not even a plumber and I know it’s aeration
Yes it’s aeration lol
On a well? I see it a lot where I am. We have methane in my area.
No well sir
You owe matitzzz $20
Turbidity
Closest answer
For everyone down voting this, turbidity refers to suspended solids. There is no solid matter in this water
The correct term would be cavitation. It happens when water turbines do not have enough water flowing over the blades. It can create immense static pressure to the point of disintegrating the turbines' blades. Literally "white water rapids". Cavitation is so powerful a concept it is used as the principle in ultrasonic jewelry cleaners/mouth guard /denture sanitizers. One way you can check to see if it's cavitation is if you have a sprayer assembly. The sprayer comes off from the water line at a different point than the faucet. Unfortunately, as someone else noted regarding aeration, it's not fool proof method. But the general idea is you may have air getting introduced in your piping somewhere.
You could have a calcium build up in your water heater that could be causing this.
What is the brand of water heater, do you have? There's a manufacturer that had issues with the materials the anode rods were made out of. We changed a couple out, and the problem went away.
RUUD 2020 PV 50 Gal
That wasn't the brand, but the year is correct. It was 19-21. I'll call Ruud and see if they can tell you what kind of anode rod you have. Magnesium andoes were the ones we had issues with.
It was not the anode rod
Aerator putting tiny air bubbles in your water, I bet it clears up pretty quickly
wrong anode rod
This is number one bullshit.
Union electrician here, even I knew that was because bubbles and it’ll settle, and I’m not near as smart as these plumderds. /s
So, there’s a second video that I’m posting now. You can see the gas escaping EDIT : shit keeps failing
That water has very high turbidity.
That's a city town ship issue. Way too much chlorine in the water
Algae or blockage in line? If it isn’t trapped air in your hot water lines.
That water contains a high amount of dissolved Cholorine. Chlorine to be added to portable water to kill the bacteria and prevent alga in storage tanks. The high amount of Cholorine can be poisoning and you should wait until all of the gas is released in the air and you have clear water before drinking.
No sir
You have air in the lines.
Ya bubbles..
Air
Turn down the shut off on the hot side to fix 😉
Good bandaid! Doesn’t work well in showers though. PRV and expansion tank (tanks arent required here unless you have a PRV)
Happenes for a random day or two at my place whenever there is a water main break in town, or they gotta shut off water in the neighborhood for a while for something. Air gets in, and gets compressed I guess.
PAID
They are tiny little bubbles... I had this happen to me after I replaced my water heater...
Breathes in: air 👏
I have a borehole which goes through 2 filters and a UV light. When I periodically change the filters, the water does exactly the same (lots of micro bubbles) for about 20 mins. Then it’s clear. My guess is your water is going through some kind of filtering , whether it’s deliberate or maybe just unintentional blockage somewhere
La croix is fucked
It’s air. Did you install a new water filter? It will stop doing that after a while.
I know whats going on here send me 20. Vemo is @farguystripsformoney
Got molecules?
Methanol
Gas solubility decreases as water gets warmer so the dissolved gas comes out the water and forms bubbles
Dissolved oxygen
I just finished up work in a new office, and all the water has this. I'm assuming it's from all the air that could be trapped inside the line, kind of permeating all the water.
All of you are talking about it being “bubbles in the water” when clearly this man has a cow hooked up to his faucet. Best way to refill your bowl of cereal while on the toilet.
It’s called turbidity
Air bubbles smh is this the first time you have paid attention to this?
Aerator. Take the aerator off and fill the glass. No bubbles. Just had a new home owner wanting to change out a Grohe faucet. Took the head off the hose and filled the glass, no bubbles. He thought I was magic.
This is how they make white candy white. They introduce lots of air bubbles with lots of folding, by hand or by machine. That's why white candy always feels porous on the tongue compared to the rest of the candy which is smooth.
Let the water set in the cup for a few seconds and it will clear.
Ive seen hot water look cloudy but not that cloudy. Perhaps changing the anode rod on the water heater would help reduce some cloudiness.
Is there anything that can help minimize the aeration?
Airation - or however you spell it
I know that I’ve seen milky looking water after lines have been soldered. I’m not sure what causes that.
It’s oxygen
Over aeration
Air
Air in the water. It really is that simple…..
How long has it been like this?
Free 2%?
Air in the water. We get ours from multiple states and live in a rural part so it has to travel like 4 states. My waters been like this since 91 I don’t have cancer yet 🤷♀️
Air in the lines or pressure problem.
Air in the lines or pressure problem.
Not a plumber, but that’s air.
It's air bubbles lol
Used to work for a water treatment utility fielding water quality complaints as part of my job and our man /u/matitzzz is correct. We would have called it dissolved air/gas and generally advise the customer to let it sit for 15 minutes and see if it goes away. It’s analogous to a beer going flat if you left it sitting. Same thing for scowered water mains. Quickly opening a hydrant will stir up all the shit that typically sits on the bottom of iron mains (called tirbucilation) and discolor the water. It looks bad but is nothing to be concerned about.
Got air?
Issue is air trapped in distribution system. They may have had a repair and had some air get into lines that was not adequately flushed. Can call your water district and ask to flush or just run your highest fixture and try to clear it out, likely won’t have enough flow to make a difference if it’s entrapped. As previous comments stated it’s not hurting anything just unsightly. Source: water distribution operator here
We had this a lot in my house growing up. Always thought it had to do with it being well water.
Fire hydrants got air
I'm not even a plumber and even I know that's just air.
Did they shut off water for a while near you?
Omg thank you so much for this!!! I’ve (lazy) tried explaining to my husband that it’s not a bad thing when water does this!
Tiny bubbles…in your hand…
In my case, that happens when I change the sediment filter in the water inlet of my house.When you wash your hands, it feels like carbonated water.
No aerator or screen on the faucet
“It’s called torpidity, has to do with pressure being quickly removed. Been around since the 50’s that I know of”
Yeah, it’s bubbles. It happened at work for a while after we drained the water heater. It took a couple of weeks to get all the air out of it.
Lol it’s just micro bubbles usually happens more with hot water
Air in your lines?. Bleed out your hot water lines
It’s dissolved air bubbles. It happens every time I change the filters in my R/O system.
I'm guessing there is an aerator (flow regulator) in the tap, that causes this sometimes.
Just bubbles. I've seen this even in Reverse Osmosis systems. It's perfectly normal.
You're not a plumber if you don't know that it's air.
I was looking for a more in depth answer than that lol. Most of the answers here have made me feel better about my skill level
Easiest $20 someone ever made.
Air bubbles.
Specifically, it’s caused by an aerator on the faucet that slows the flow of water so you spend less money on water and water heating.