New heating - water smells and tastes odd

saubryn

Back in January, the Housing Association re-did a lot of our house, including giving us a combi boiler. The first few days after the heating was re-done, the water coming out of both taps in the kitchen smelled and tasted really funny. I asked the engineers about that and they said it was normal, and that it would go away after a few weeks. I found that running the cold tap for ages before making drinks helped a little, but only a little.

The thing is, the smell and taste hasn't really gone away. Sometimes it's worse than others. It seems that if you run the hot tap and the cold tap at the same time, the cold water tastes disgusting - even some friends who claim to have no sense of smell or taste can tell there's something wrong.

My husband had a shave this morning, running the bathroom hot tap. Then he came downstairs and made the coffee about five minutes later. The water tasted foul.

The smell I'm noticing is sort of metallic / acrid. The water tastes metallic to me. My husband says that when he's having a hot bath he smells chlorine. I've never noticed that, but I use bubble bath that probably masks the smell.

We've also noticed an occasional rotten-egg smell in the kitchen - but I'm not sure if that's the water or another issue.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? Should I ask the housing association to check the heating, or is it the water supply that's at fault?

Canucklehead

Good morning: Have you had any other plumbing works done eg. new taps? Has the incoming cold mains supply been replaced or altered? Generally, any odours/taste issues associated with a new boiler installation should have dissipated by now.

More advice is available on the Drinking Water Inspectorate website.


HTH

Canucklehead

saubryn

Thanks for your response.

We were given new radiators in every room, and a new sink + taps in the kitchen. The bathroom taps haven't been changed, though.

Canucklehead

Hi

The only thing I can suggest is the kitchen tap has been fitted with a flexible connector that is sub standard, or any other bits of water main that have been altered using inferior pipe/fittings.
Any neighbours with the same problem?


GSR.

aleksrothis

I don't know if you've managed to sort this already, but here's the standard advice from the Water Quality team at the water company I work for...

TCP tastes and odours are usually traced to incorrect tap washers, rubber tap extensions and other fittings, such as sealing rings in electric kettles. If these contain phenolic chemicals, traces of them dissolve in the water and react with the chlorine forming TCP (trichlorophenols).

Metallic tastes are usually the result of metal dissolving from pipework

So, it does sound as though your housing association has not carried out the fittings correctly...

Hope that helps