Southern York County Life

we moved in our brand new / newly built house 5 1/2 years ago. the other day we had to replace our 40 gal hot water heater. we were told by the plumber that the water was the reasoning for it leaking and going bad. fortunatly the ruud hot water heater was under warrenty for 6 years and the manufact. replaced it. the bad part was they dont pay for parts or instalation which came to around $300. the heater its self would have been $900 for the type it was. theres also an expantion tank that is used in conection with our hot water tank. it to is bad and we have to pay out of our pocket to have that replaced. again due to the water. that will be $200 more out of our pocket and it to was brand new 5 years ago!the insides of our toilets , that were new 5 years ago are now a very dark brown and bleach tablets and any type of toilet stain removers does nothing. so between what the plumber has told me about the breakdown of the hot water heater and the condition of the inside of our toilets i can only beleive the water here is pretty bad.  why is this? why do we have higher nitrates in our water then the city of los angeles? i mean is this really acceptable? if the water is no good for your toilet and your h2o heater , what about drinking it! if the nitrates were 1 point higher, by law we would not be able to drink it! and i have a feeling that there has been time when it was higher and it wasnt mentioned! someone really needs to look more at improving the quaility of our water! next break down my items wont be under coverage. i cant afford to replace $1400 worth of items every 5 years due to water that i am paying for. if your a new home owner , or have a recent hot water heater keep your warrenty papers and check when it runs out. also make a trip to your basment to check on the heater itself. we just made it by 6 months , others may not be so lucky! its sad when you cant trust the water that you are requiered to pay for!   

Hey Sean,

I agree that the water here has been in question for a while.

But, as for the stains in your toilets.  We’ve found that the bathroom cleaner that has Teflon in it works wonders.  We’ve been using that and the stains are gone and they haven’t come back!  They look brand new again.

Of course, this doesn’t negate the water problem, but it will help from having to replace your toilets too!

hey sean…
your plumber is mistaken. your hot water heater probably broke down because you didn’t flush it once a year like you’re supposed to. all water has some impurities in it. water is corrosive to metal. impurities build up over time and if you don’t take steps to remove them, it will break your hot water heater. the brown stains in your toilet tank are from iron in the water. we add a chemical which holds iron in the pipes but microscopic amounts still get through. that’s what builds up in your toilet tank. the water here is not “pretty bad” as you put it...it is “pretty good” by whatever standards you want to compare it to. we have more nitrates in our water than los angeles does because we are located in farm land...where nitrate-producing animals and fertilizers are found. los angeles is a city. that you “have a feeling that there has been a time when it [nitrates] was higher and it wasn’t mentioned” is unfortunate...it is also wrong. someone is looking at the quality of our water. we have the best staff of water employees anywhere. they check the quality every day and dep makes sure that we stay within acceptable parameters. what’s really sad is someone who is so short-sighted and obviously bent on causing unecessary controversy that they get on the internet and start mouthing off about something they know nothing about. the borough sewer & water committee meets on the 4th monday of every month… the water authority meets on the 3rd wednesday of every month. i don’t ever recall your being there at one of these public meetings. you are welcome to come and express your concerns and get reasonable answers before you start whining on the internet. thank you.

we moved in our brand new / newly built house 5 1/2 years ago. the other day we had to replace our 40 gal hot water heater. we were told by the plumber that the water was the reasoning for it leaking and going bad. fortunatly the ruud hot water heater was under warrenty for 6 years and the manufact. replaced it. the bad part was they dont pay for parts or instalation which came to around $300. the heater its self would have been $900 for the type it was. theres also an expantion tank that is used in conection with our hot water tank. it to is bad and we have to pay out of our pocket to have that replaced. again due to the water. that will be $200 more out of our pocket and it to was brand new 5 years ago!the insides of our toilets , that were new 5 years ago are now a very dark brown and bleach tablets and any type of toilet stain removers does nothing. so between what the plumber has told me about the breakdown of the hot water heater and the condition of the inside of our toilets i can only beleive the water here is pretty bad.  why is this? why do we have higher nitrates in our water then the city of los angeles? i mean is this really acceptable? if the water is no good for your toilet and your h2o heater , what about drinking it! if the nitrates were 1 point higher, by law we would not be able to drink it! and i have a feeling that there has been time when it was higher and it wasnt mentioned! someone really needs to look more at improving the quaility of our water! next break down my items wont be under coverage. i cant afford to replace $1400 worth of items every 5 years due to water that i am paying for. if your a new home owner , or have a recent hot water heater keep your warrenty papers and check when it runs out. also make a trip to your basment to check on the heater itself. we just made it by 6 months , others may not be so lucky! its sad when you cant trust the water that you are requiered to pay for! 

You can easily get rid of the iron stain from your toilet bowl by using “The Works.” You will find it at your local supermarket in the same aisle as other toilet bowl cleaning products.

You might also want to look into a water softening system. We installed one ourselves at half the cost and it has helped a lot at reducing iron stains.

Wow forgive me for stateing what is true in my home. im guessing that guy has some sort of part with the local water co. by his rude comments. as for flushing my heater , i have done that even though he seem to think not or seem to know what everyone does or does not do!. as for the plumber , i think a professional would have more insight to water problems then some local council man who thinks he knows it all!. and as for your meetings . i have been to a few , not that you would notice!  it seems that they are not as productive as you claim.  there have been water problems here since i moved here 5 years ago and they are still not resolved! people like guy seem to blame everyone else for them. i am sorry you or your buddies work for the company and i wasnt attacking them. i was stateing and questioning the water, not the people that work there. i suppose the articals in the paper are all wrong to.  plumbers are wrong , the media , everyone is except guy. and again dont dare say a word or your the bad person. as for your meetings , people dont want to go to them with people like you being involved! jeff b seems to be one of the few there with a brain anyway.  people are just sick of your stupid and ignorante comments. i often wonder why people told me you were the town jerk prior to meeting you. now its very clear what they were talking about! the water problem will never be resolved as long as people like you dont think theres any problem and tell everyone how wonderful it is! and to bobby , thank you for your human response to my stain problems & i will try it. it seems you are more helpful to the local people then our councilman guy s. maybe you should replace him. it would be nice to have someone helpful vs someone thats not & rude to the public! 

i believe we all know who the “town jerk” is

DJ what are the problems with the town water??  I had to replace my hot water heater after I bought my house but the plumber I spoke to said that was common with electric heaters and the minerals added to municipal water souces.  I remember a time when the water was really bad, sometimes it was discolored, and had an odor.  But I have never noticed that since the system has been upgraded.

If you truely feel the water is harmful why do you stay?

Guy is an elected official as well as an appointed one and feels some sort of ownership and pride in our Town and I think all elected and appointed government people should. 

thanx gymteacher…
it’s gratifying to hear someone say something nice about us “politicians” for a change. everyone on the borough council and the water authority, as well as the employees and our engineer, has worked really hard these last several years to get our water system to be one of the finest around. it’s nice to know someone realizes that and can appreciate it. thank you again.

I don’t have anything against any of the local politicians.  My comments were just about what we found for the stains.  I like living here and think that for the most part everything is running pretty smoothly now.

However, that point aside, some of the comments that come across these chat boards might want to be thought through a little more before they’re just blurted out.

I know that this is a site run independent from the borough, but if you’re going to be representing the town/borough/council/etc. in your comments, name calling and engaging in disparaging remarks, arguments, bantering, etc.  doesn’t represent the town or the people at all. 

If you want to make the comments as a resident, great.  But don’t do it from a politician’s stand point.  It doesn’t come across well to any of us who may not have met you, or do not know you yet.  I don’t judge people based on things like this, but you’d be surprised at the number who do!

Wow forgive me for stateing what is true in my home. im guessing that guy has some sort of part with the local water co. by his rude comments. as for flushing my heater , i have done that even though he seem to think not or seem to know what everyone does or does not do!. as for the plumber , i think a professional would have more insight to water problems then some local council man who thinks he knows it all!. and as for your meetings . i have been to a few , not that you would notice!  it seems that they are not as productive as you claim.  there have been water problems here since i moved here 5 years ago and they are still not resolved! people like guy seem to blame everyone else for them. i am sorry you or your buddies work for the company and i wasnt attacking them. i was stateing and questioning the water, not the people that work there. i suppose the articals in the paper are all wrong to.  plumbers are wrong , the media , everyone is except guy. and again dont dare say a word or your the bad person. as for your meetings , people dont want to go to them with people like you being involved! jeff b seems to be one of the few there with a brain anyway.  people are just sick of your stupid and ignorante comments. i often wonder why people told me you were the town jerk prior to meeting you. now its very clear what they were talking about! the water problem will never be resolved as long as people like you dont think theres any problem and tell everyone how wonderful it is! and to bobby , thank you for your human response to my stain problems & i will try it. it seems you are more helpful to the local people then our councilman guy s. maybe you should replace him. it would be nice to have someone helpful vs someone thats not & rude to the public!

Just from observation, I don’t think Guy was being intentionally rude when he responded to your message. In my opinion, he was merely stating a couple of facts that have been proven to cause hot water heaters to die. He is right, flushing water heaters once a year is mentioned in water heater manuals. You would be surprised at how many people dont’ do this.

Guy was no more being rude than I am when I ask the question-- now that there isn’t a drought at the moment and curtailing of water useage has been lifted for quite some time, how many people have changed their water useage ways, i.e. not letting water run when shaving, not letting water run when brushing teeth, etc.?

I know we still don’t waste water.  Regardless of the drought status, I still have to pay for it!!!

Amazing the level of intelligence and knowledge displayed on this web site.

We have people who are “experts” in everything, willing to display their omnipotence on a “whim”

he was merely stating a couple of facts that have been proven to cause hot water heaters to die. He is right, flushing water heaters once a year is mentioned in water heater manuals. You would be surprised at how many people dont’ do this.

“Drain” the water heater once a year because the instruction manual tells you to do it. Ok just what do you accomplish when you drain the tank? Is it you simply drain maybe the dirty water containing some level of sediment?

Try this.
find the following quotation:
http://home.howstuffworks.com/water-heater1.htm

“a sacrificial anode rod to keep the steel tank from corroding”.

Think about the sacrificial anode rod. Ever changed one?

Are there any other purposes for the “sacrificial rod”?

RE: the sacrificial rod, I have heard of it and it is a necessary thing. I don’t think there are any other uses for it, other than to attract the minerals that would otherise eat your tank. RE: Guy’s comments: I think maybe there is still a lot of sensitivity where the water quality is concerned in this town. Especially on Guy’s part, when I think he headed the water commission and there were tons of complaints and he got tired of defending it. As much as Sean is not my favorite poster here, I do think he was unfairly attacked and I did not read any rancor into his comments. He was just being Sean, jumping the gun a little bit, but he would have gotten the information he needed within a few replies. Now it is a flame war again.   All this makes this forum a little hard to read sometimes.

Now, 8) CountryGirl Sez, Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving, cook with your water, be unafraid. It’s GOOD water, and good for you.