Why does my tea taste like TCP???

wallbash

Lets bring some logic to the problem :rolleyes:

'funny tasting ' tea !!

Its the water a) its the water from the source ( the mains)
b) only tastes funny after boiling ( kettle ??)

Its the drinking mug/cup ??
Are you using a dish washer ??


As previous poster said , collect water from a neighbour
use a different kettle for a comparison

wash the tea cup under running water. .
good luck

puddy

no im pretty sure its the kettle as things only changed after i got the new kettle.

with regards the water meter, i have just looked on their estimator and it woujld work out at an average of 313 quid a year for 2 people. but now i cant remember what we are paying now or where the bill is, i have a feeling that we are not paying that much, i thought it was less than that. i just know that in my previous property, we couldnt have a meter fitted because it was flats, that really annoyed me because i was paying far more than i would have, but that was thames and i was living on my own then, no dishwasher, no garden etc,,,, so maybe i will end up paying more, not sure

puddy

right the direct debit for the water is 27 pounds, assuming that is for every month of the year and not just ten months, that makes 324 a year. that would make a meagre saving of about 10 quid if we were metered.

however, if the payments for the water are over 10 months, then that makes 270 pounds, which means we would be paying a lot more for a meter if the averages are correct.

but then again, we moved in june...

need to find the bill

andrew-b

Their direct debits are for 10 months of the year (february and march you don't pay anything - we never have). They'll have charged you for the period when you moved in up until 31st March 2010 but they won't take a payment in february or march . That is how it worked for us anyway.
So if you pay every month including June (assuming you moved in on 1st june) to January that's 8 payments of £27 for 10 months worth of water as you won't be charged in Feb/March. 27 x 8 = £216 for 10 months. (216/10) x 12 = £259.20 per year
If you actually moved in at the start of July it would be 7 payments of £27 for 9 months of water which works out at £252 a year ..so without the bill we can be accurate to within £10.

I'm curious now whether i actually will or wont be better off on a meter. Dug out my bill ..our rateable value is £153 which gives us a bill of £338.27 per year .

At the flat we used between 0.23 and 0.25 cubic metres of water per day (250 litres a day). If our usage were the same at 250 litres on a meter we would pay £312.71 (£25.56 less than now) ...so it comes down to whether our usage will be more or not as to whether it's cheaper on a meter. The break even point for us where cost of metering is same as cost of rateable value is currently 276 litres a day. So the question is do we use 26 litres a day more than we used to and i really dont know so it's not worth the risk to me for £2.50 a month for 10 months! It's quite possible we do use more than that now as we use our washing more now we have better drying facilities (aka garden).

Andy

puddy

crikey, so going by both your calculations, my bills are going thru the roof when we get a meter.

yours sounds like a lot already then? are there 2 of you? theres only two of us, we only seem to do washing at the weekend, say about 4 or 5 loads and the dishwasher is probably run every other day

andrew-b

yes 2 of us plus the dog..washing machine gets run quite alot though - at least once every couple of days to wash OHs uniform for work. Incidentally i tried that calculator and i came out with £313 which is basically 250 litres a day anyway. In the summer though i do use a fair amount on the garden (attended hose held in hand ..not unattended sprinker where you should have a meter installed). Plus being here most of the time i guess the toilet gets flushed more too.
If my figures are right your rateable value should be around £105 ..so you pay less than us but may be using as much if not more water which doesn't make much sense! If you get a meter before me you can come round for some free water!! Still i feel much less guilty for using the hose now!

Andy

puddy

whats this rateable value business?

andrew-b

It's a valuation of your property on 31st March 1990 (similar to one used for council tax but a different date and method i guess) used to work out your bill.
Have a look here (section 3).

Andy

inspace

We used to get this taste as well - we simply run the water for a minute or so - and never use water that has stood in kettle (ie use it a soon as boiled and empty when refilling) - its either the plastic pipes or plastic parts in kettle never know which but it cures it if you follow simple rules.

Occasionally one of us forgets and you can tell instantly.

walmslei

http://www.anglianwater.co.uk/_assets/media/TCP.pdf

Just out of interest, Phenols are the taste you are probably experiencing and it may be caused by an interaction with Chlorine and the rubber seals used within the kettle OR potentially Chloramine.

If you say you noticed it more at specific times of the day - Chlorine levels in water are usually 'noticeably' stronger in the early morning and evening as the demand for water increases - usually due to your local treatment works dosing the water at a higher throughput and the transport time between the water leaving it and reaching you being far less than usual.

Chloramine, which is the new disinfectant being introduced, is rumoured to be more aggressive against rubber washers and seals, although given it's relatively new to the UK (used in Scotland and London in the main), then data is probably a bit sketchy.

Also, bear in mind the problem could be before the kettle - tap seals, and washing machine seals (the bit in the end of hoses) can all leach such bits into your drinking water supply, especially if you do not have non-return valves fitted.