What is This Residue from My Drinking Water?

No, I think you are right. Them, They, and It" are out there to get us. (However, a good friend of mine said we don't have to worry about "Them, They and It" taking over because they took over 20 years ago.)

Have some fun today,

PAPADOC

RMFR

It is a government program to reduce the birthrate.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphrodisiac

"Rumours that the British Army put the 19th century anticonvulsant and sedative potassium bromide in soldiers' tea during World War II to damp soldiers' lust appears to be an urban myth. Given the long half-life of the drug in the body, a mildly sedated army would be unlikely to be an effective fighting force. A similar belief appears to exist in the United States about saltpeter in army coffee^[1] or in Russia about potassium bromide in army food."

Not really, the Slackman has it. _{Sorry, couldn't remember the initials.}

P.S. We still had the potassium bromide story going when I did my National Service in 1956-58.

That doesn't really help me explain the baby boom, now does it?

In Texas it may be Gypsum (CaSO4) which is not very soluble and may crystallize in the stable condition of your water cooler.

You could buy yourselves a pH kit and at least compare it with your potable water standards.

The white color makes me think it's calcium. How would the ph determine whether or not it's CaSO4?

It won't. Don't invest.

dissolved solids. the range of acceptable solids varies from one provider to the next. This check along with several others are performed daily by an on-site lab. if you were to further filter with RO (reverse Osmosis) you would eliminate them entirely...along with taste. it is these minerals that are most responsible for taste sounds safe to me

That thar is a wee little piece of Texas born-n-bred Balcones Limestone. (Hook 'em Horns!) :-))

It may well be the minerals from ground water source. However, these point of use spouts on a fridge make use of coils of tubing to provide the cooling retention time. The filter you describe is probably activated carbon (AC). There are two problems that can create biological residuals and often lead to slime formation inside the tubing. One is the activated carbon filter: it can actually lead to higher levels of HPC (heterotrophic bacteria count) being released from first flush. The HPC can be at very low levels entering your AC filter. Activated carbon will remove any disinfection residual within the first few cm of depth. The loss of disinfection allows microorganisms to accumulate on the favorable media (they actually like AC media). When you open the spout to get a glass of water, the elevated HPC is flushed into the tubing coil. Eventually, these tubes can become very elevated with HPC and a resulting biological slime.

I did have a fridge with a drinking spout but removed the filter and let city water enter with the residual disinfection. It worked better without the filter. On a subsequent purchase of a fridge, I added an ice maker but left off the spout. Cheaper and safer to use.

HPC are not usually of any health significance and should not be construed as a coliform bacteria count (although coliform are often included in HPC). They can be significant in immune depressed or frail individuals. Elevated counts of HPC (>500/ml) are usual alarm points on municipal systems and generally they are <5/ml on distribution sampling points.

Here is one article but you can find many of the internet. At one time AC was put forward as a hazardous protect for point of use. It does have some legitimate safe uses and the move to ban was rescinded. Unfortunately it is still used in error. Inspect your system and the tubing in particular, some flushing without the filter may help.

Pharmaceuticals! Our bodies do not metabolize all the drugs these doctors prescribe for us. They are getting in our water supply.

So i enjoy.

Another issue could be fines in the filter itself. Most filters require flushing xx gallons/litres/fistfuls of water before using. The fines are a result of the expanded polypropylene core and are white in color. They are generally neutral and harmless.

Re your sig: I trust you haven't told Payroll yet?

I trust, you of all of accepted people of my life, cannot be trusted to drink mineralized water. It has an insidious effect. IT will make you, as in force you to live longer, and to live healthier.

Now, we cannot have that at all.

What the heck is the problem with you, deposit or not.

Can you even bother distinguishing the reasons?

Do you ever view National Geographic about glacial melt water?

If you get your water from a municipal supply they will provide you with testing info for free. Ours shows up with the bill twice a year. But some place make you request the information.

But then again if you don't trust them the info won't mean anything. You could always have a sample tested for you by a private company.

I reccomend that you clean it with vinegar. If you have a fairly accurate volt ohm meter you can do the following; I have done this and it works. I use a glass. Any glass will work. Fill the glass to fairly near the top with distiller water. Measure the impedance across the top of the water. Then fill the glass with the water in question and do the same. Take the water from the fridge (water in question) and take it to a pool place and find out what the hardness is. You now have two points for a straight line graph. As long as you use the same glass and level you can fairly accurately determine the hardness. I did this when comparing water from my RO unit and tap water. I already knew the TDS of the tap water before and after the RO unit. I then plotted a graph in CAD.

Why not just buy a handy little water tester from a Scientific Supply house. OH yeah, this is an ENGINEERING forum, where we can't ever be bothered with silly details like stuff actually dissolves in water. Go back to school, ye blaggards!

Besides minerals you should find pharmaceuticals, hormones, insecticides, herbicides and a host of products used in industry. It is ok the government claims the levels are well within safe specifications. Monsanto and others told them it was safe so no further testing is required.

Ah, Monsanto.

Hell's got whole separate section reserved just for them, with it's own central heat an' everything, fueled with toxic waste, carcinogens - even spent nuclear fuel rods - the whole nine yards. Heard it was so exclusive that you have to be a card-carrying Monsanto board member or lobbyist just to use the coat room (but you can sneak through the men's room to the private entrance leading to the Congress Club next door)

No need to worry, it's the result of the Bilderberg Group lacing your drinking water with dissolve LSD...

Nothing to see here, move on......

If you noticed the residue, you need to drink more water from the tap!

Salmonella.. be very careful.

Filters do not remove dissolved minerals such as salt, alkalinity, sulfates, and hardness, or dissolved silica (yes silica slightly dissolves in water). Reverse osmosis (and forward osmosis using a draw solution) can remove minerals from water. Ion exchange can remove minerals from water, and so can distillation (of all types).

Filters have pores that rate down into the low micrometer diameter, such that they are rated by the largest average size of particles that cannot be removed by them (or alternatively by the average smallest size that can be removed). None of these come even close to the size of solutes like sugar, alcohol, salt, etc. In fact, even RO membranes have a hard time removing small molecules such as alcohol (with any efficiency that is worth having), and can actually cause an increase in the saturation of gases in the permeate (product), since the gases like CO2, N2, O2, have a higher transport coefficient than water.

Beer oxide. If you're living in Texas and that's what's comin' outta your fridge spigot, it's a sign you need to replace that keg.