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Hot water from tap looks cloudy

When I run the hot tap at work very slowly it looks very cloudy, in fact its loads of tiny little bubbles. If I run the water faster they dissapear. I'm guessing some sort of cavitation is taking place.

Strangely this doesn't happen with the hot water at home.

Has anyone elso noticed this phenomonom?

 

cheers

 

fj

 

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Categories: Domestic Science.

Tags: bubbles, hotwater, cavitation.

 

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nrpelipig says:

I think that the answer to this is that, when water is heated, the particles slowly break apart from the main stream. However, it does not happen at your home because the pipes are different. The rate of water evaporation depends no only on the temperature, but on the amount of water in the air already (like, if the air at your home is more humid, the water will evaporate slower); the density of the water, the pressure on the water (that would depend on the size of the pipes), and the amount of other chemicals in the air (the purer the air, the faster the evaporation is. Here I am not talking about the kind of evaporation that happens if you leave a glass of water out for the night and the next morning the water level is lower, but how easy it is to break the bonds that keep water molecules together. I hope that helps.

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posted on 2010-12-24 13:10:15 | Report abuse


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Jon-Richfield says:

 

Yes, I have noticed those couds of bubbles in various contexts and can even create it in clear water if I can apply an air pressure pump to clear water.

What causes it is air dissolving in water under pressure, then bubbling out when pressure is relieved. If you have a garden pest spray of the type that you pump up with air, then clean it out nicely, fill it nearly full of cool water, begin to pump in air till you can no more. Let it cool and swirl the pump round for a minute or two and things settle. Then pump again till you have had enough. Finally you wait till all is still and you gently screw off the top and quickly, but gently,  pour it into a glass. It probably will make a nicely cloudy pour, but the bubbles will soon rise to the surface and vanish. If you then leave the glass for a while, then especially in an old glass, you are likely to find that the surface underwater becomes covered with bubbles.

Now, under high pressures in pipes, bubbles of air dissolve in the water and bubble as pressure is relieved. This is what causes decompression sickness (the "bends") in our bodies when we dive deep and surface too rapidly.

In domestic pipes it is not all that common, because the pressures are usually low, but i high buildings pressures are high and such clouds of bubbles are common. I have know it to happen in the water from deep boreholes.

I hope that helps.

 

Jon

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posted on 2010-12-25 13:07:09 | Report abuse


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StewartH status says:

A number of things come to mind.

Taps are usually fitted with aerators, the exception being in hospitals where the taps induce laminar flow and do not mix air with the water. There are two types of aerator, one breaks up the flow with a series of fixed vanes and has vents that allow the water flow to suck in air, the other is a series of small holes much like a shower head. The latter type is most often used in public places to seriously reduce water consumption. These different aerators will produce slightly different effects at different flow rates.

In the UK the hot water system is often fed from a header tank in the loft. The use of a header tank results in much of the air disolved in the main water supply to bubble out of the water resulting in less air in the water at the tap. Large public buildings often have the main water supply connected directly to water heaters. In the US it is normal for the main supply to be connected directly to water heaters in both the home and public buildings. The result of a dirrect connection is more air disolved in the water.

Tall buildings are usually fed from high pressure pumps so that water reaches the top floors. This requires pressure regulating valves to be fitted on lower floors to prevent the plumbing fixtures from being blown off the walls. When water flows through these valves, the reduction in pressure causes air to bubble out of solution.

So, there are a number of reasons why the amount of aeration in the water will be different at home and at work.

 

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posted on 2010-12-27 00:52:08 | Report abuse


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