More on white chips in the cold water line

[gator67]

We had white chips showing up in our cold water lines in the kitchen faucet, bathroom faucet, toilet and even washing machine line. We had the lines cleared out several times and finally, in August 2010 we bought a water softener. It seemed to help the problem, but did not make it go away. We'd still get the white chips in the line. We chalked that up to residual calcium in the lines being loosened up.

The water went through the water filter, softener, and a screen and we STILL got the chips in the lines.

We have had several RV service people try to track the source of the problem, but so far nobody has cured the problem.

We thought that the chips might be coming from the fresh water tank, since it seemed that we had the problem after traveling, and when we were on the road, we used the water pump. But, we flushed the fresh tank several times, and even put a stocking under the dump opening to try to catch any chips, but none appeared.

One of the mobile service techs checked the input filter to the water pump and there were no chips. He also observed that all the "pipes" were flex tubing, so nothing could be eaten away from the pipes.

We decided not to use the water pump until we had someone look for the problem again. After a day of traveling, and a day settled in, the bathroom faucet got plugged up with the white chips again. So much for the water pump theory.


The unanswerable questions are:

• Where are the chips coming from?
• Is it related to the pump?
• Is it related to traveling and stirring something up?
• Do the chips exist somewhere, or are they forming from something else?
• Why does it seem to "attack" the bathroom faucet first?

To clear out the chips, we've been removing the cartridge from the faucet, cleaning out what chips we could, and pouring vinegar down the cold water input hole and letting it sit for a few hours. Then we put tubes over the hot and cold water holes and turn on the city water to flush out the remaining calcium.

[Rodneykrantz]

Are you filling with city water from the same source I have seen white flakes in house water lines
and toilet tanks it was the city water system try filling with a well and see if the flakes go away

[Sammie]

My Buddy has a 2001 Alpine that had the same problem with white chips in his water lines. Ended up being the anode rod inside his hot water heater tank was completly gone and had left a layer of white stuff laying in the bottom of the tank. Once we cleaned out the water heater tank and installed a new anode rod, the problem went away.

Sammie

[Dwight B]

i had same problem. Hot and cold water lines reversed at water heater. I read a thread about this on this site. Don't forget to clean filter screen on back of clothes washer. Good luck. Dwight Bevans 2000 Alpine