Brown sludge in ground water pipes; how can the pipes be cleaned?

[SLESQ]

I am looking for a way to clean the inside of ground water pipes. Please....Keep snappy, rude, and political comments for others, please.

Our Chiang Mai home is 15 years old; we've owned it for the past 7 years and love it. Nearly every year or two I have had the exterior walls of the buildings and fences painted because of what I I was told and thought was poor quality paints that became sun-faded or even "burnt."

When we recently changed some old pipe, I saw the problem starts with dirt in the Ground Water. Both the pre-existing and newer installed blue plastic ground water pipes are now lined with a viscus brown sludge, seen to be as much as 1.5+ mm thick.

With both City and Ground Water sources, we can easily switch between the two. For the past 7 years we followed the prior owners usage: City Water for inside and Ground Water for grass and plantings.

Our City Water is filtered before it comes into the house, but not so the Ground Water before it goes to the sprinklers and hoses.

With nearly 3 rei of planted fruit and specimen trees and shrubs, the underground water pipe system that has been added to over the years is now rather extensive.

The stores and licensed plumbers we've used for the past 11 years tell us the only way to clean the sludge is to replace the entire system! This is not an option. Neither is re-painting every year or two.

Pipe cleaning services and chemicals by Rotor Rooter (possibly others) are well recognized and commercially sold in Thailand, but I am not able to locate a distributor in Chiang Mai who will supply and/or use these items for home owners.

Looking for cleaning services and other helpful suggestions,I will appreciate meaningful and responsible replies; thank you in advance.

For those interested, As the sludge build's up, the inside pipe diameter decreases and will be blocked, creating another problem soon to come. After we get our pipes to a reasonable state of clean, we could use only City Water at a piddling small extra monthly cost, but this would be an unneeded use of a limited resource. So we will install a new filter system for the ground water we use.

[Dante99]

Start running the City water in those pipes now to avoid further build up. It will also help clean them. It may be all you need to do.

You wrote: "The stores and licensed plumbers we've used for the past 11 years" Please post the names and contact information for the licensed plumbers, I would like to contact such a person.

What does the painting have to do with the pipes? Please let us know so that we may fully understand the issue and provide the most appropriate assistance.

[onthedarkside]

When I want to clean up the sludge build-up in house pipes. I remove one of the fitting, like a shower valve, and let the full pressure run through the pipes. You would be amazed how much brown water comes out. Not exactly a 'professional' solution, but it works and it is cheap and cheerful.

[CNXBKKMAN]

I only know of the pipe removal method which has been done at our rented place more than once. If you only have 1.5mm of dirt on the inside of the pipes I would say that is not much and would only monitor it over the coming years. Ground water is used where I am and a peaty black carbon type deposit builds up in the blue plastic pipes. When the pipes have been cut out you can see the pipe is almost full of black dirt with only a narrow straw width hole in centre. The kind of straw you get with a small yacult drink.

Soda Fai does wonders unblocking pipes. Will a diluted solution left in the pipes work? Washed out after a few hours or the next day?

[SLESQ]

Dante99 Thank you. Ground water used for hydration has contaminants that first appeared on walls years ago that needed repainting every year or so, but the source of the discoloration was not recognized.

We now see a build-up of sludge in old pipes recently removed during renovations. Thus the water has left sludge on the pipe walls and the top layers of that sludge appears loose enough to be washed onto the boundary and house walls, causing discoloration, a need for constant repainting, and leading to more problems if not treated.

Otherdarkside Thank you. Washing the old pipe did show some top layers of the sludge coming off but not all the layers. Perhaps high pressure water sent through the pipes will clean them well, but not thoroughly or keep the sludge from building up later.

We want to hire a professional service that can 1) run high pressure water through the pipes, a service that knows how not to cause them to burst from being to high for the system; 2) use a chemical wash to clean the pipes thoroughly; and then 3) install a filter at the groundwater pump to wash the ground water as the City water is now filtered.

Another suggestion has been to install a water softener; that can also be explored with the service to be hired.

It is this water and pipe cleaning service that I seek to hire, if you or others can be so kind as to recommend one.

[SLESQ]

CNXBKKMAN, thank you. "Soda Fai [for] unblocking pipes. ... left in the pipes" might also work. Thanks. I am beyond the time of life for doing my own repairs, and thus will also put this to the service I yet hope to locate and hire.

[Thighlander]

3/4 inch PVC 19 mm inside, 23 mm outside, 2 mm walls is quite cheap. Likely even cheaper than a thai plumber. I wouldn't want to take a shower with water that had been exposed to toxins like that. Seems like a good way to turn a scrape into MRSA. Use a separate system for irrigation. Depending on the length of the pipe; I agree with removing the shower head, and perhaps even reaming with a 50 or 100 foot snake to loosen it up. Assembling PVC pipe is about as hard as using Legos.

[Dante99]

We want to hire a professional service that can 1) run high pressure water through the pipes, a service that knows how not to cause them to burst from being to high for the system; 2) use a chemical wash to clean the pipes thoroughly

Please do let us know if you find such a service in Chiang Mai.

And your licensed plumber contact information is???????? I am really interested because I have never heard of a licensed plumber in Chiang Mai and I am sure many would be interested in contacting such a person based on numerous past posts requesting plumbers.

[Thighlander]

I think super high pressure would cause leaks before it removed anything that had become carbonized or calcified. Pressure would likely work well for the painting problem, though.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Thighlander

[mickemus]

100 liter of water 6 liter of chlorine 5 % fill the pipes wait for 24 hour done...... 300 baht .

You can also buy chlorine 20 kg bag 90 % at pool dealers 1500 baht.

Edited June 4, 2014 by mickemus

[SLESQ]

100 liter of water 6 liter of chlorine 5 % fill the pipes wait for 24 hour done...... 300 baht .

You can also buy chlorine 20 kg bag 90 % at pool dealers 1500 baht.

Thanks good suggestion... and we will wait for a good rain storm and send the solution in the pipes to ground water drains where it will be even more diluted and thus not risk harming our plantings or the environment.