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Rmack1's avatar
Rmack1
Explorer
Feb 21, 2014

Mysterious substance in potable water

I had let my bathtub cold water run too long in my Mini Lite, ran out of water, and lost the prime on my pump. This happened on the last day driving back from my most recent trip, so I just stored the TT for the time. A couple days later (today) I went back, poured some water from my house water hose into the tank, and started up the pump.

It went good, got the prime back, except I noticed that the bathtub cold water was still not up to full flow, although everything else seemed to be, including the bathtub hot water. I let it run some more.

Then I noticed what I thought was dirt coming out of the bathroom spigot. On closer examination, It was small particles of whitish grit, slightly larger than, say, beach sand at the largest. If I picked it up and rubbed it, it crushed into smaller powder-ish grit.

I have only put clean water from reliable sources in my tank. In addition, I have a water filter that came with the unit that filters all water before in goes to any fixture in the trailer, not just some.

Any Idea what this stuff could be? And what would be the best way to get rid of whatever it is?

36 Replies

  • SCVJeff wrote:
    Calcium


    It kinda looks like that, but how did it get past my water filter?
  • Hard water doesn't have "big and chunky" stuff when it flows into your tank- you can't even see the bits of minerals in it. The teenytiny pieces all get together in there and glom onto each other, usually by settling. That's where the chunky stuff comes from.
  • ScottG wrote:
    I wonder if it could be material from the water heaters anode. If you have a Suburban WH (Atwood = no anode) then perhaps when you ran out of water and it ended up pulling some of the junk of the bottom of the WH's tank somehow.
    Or if you have hard water then it could have just been calcium deposits in the bottom of the fresh water tank that were sucked through the system.


    As a matter of fact, the last place we stayed; Rio Del Sol RV park near Parker, AZ, had hard water, according to a knowledgeable inhabitant.

    I thought that it would just shorten my filters life, but the filter would take out the extra minerals. Especially stuff this big and chunky. What is in those filters? Could this be something from the filter element? It just looks like paper-like membrane folded over a bunch to form a starred cylinder. Like fuel filters, and such.
  • I wonder if it could be material from the water heaters anode. If you have a Suburban WH (Atwood = no anode) then perhaps when you ran out of water and it ended up pulling some of the junk of the bottom of the WH's tank somehow.
    Or if you have hard water then it could have just been calcium deposits in the bottom of the fresh water tank that were sucked through the system.
  • Take it to a swimming pool supply place and have them do a chemical test on it. It could be plastic, salt, or calcium.

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