Blue stains in sink

[Deedop]

Hi all,
I've moved into a new house a few months ago and these blue stains have been building up in the bathroom sinks. I've tried googling and it sounds like it's from copper pipes. Does anyone know how big a job this will be to fix? Thanks.

 

[Ben-gee]

Do you have any toilets with blue blocks in the cistern?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Flux by the look of it

 

[WC1]

Is the tap dripping and leaving limscale which is picking up the colour from another source e.g. washing powder if washing clothes in sink or soap or shampoo with some blue in it.
There's a spot of blue fluid near the bottom of the plastic bottle. What is that?

 

[JCplumb]

If the water was drained down for an extended period before you moved in the copper pipes will oxidise and you will get some discoloration until the particles of oxide have been flushed out.
That looks excessive though, a house I recently worked on had some greeny/blue marks running down the ceramic bath from a tap that had been dripping slowly for years, was much fainter than your mark and the colour wasn't as deep.
They had a parrot and wouldn't use any chemicals to clean it because chemicals can harm the bird, they cleaned it off with bicarb and vinegar. Not sure how difficult it was for them but the stain had gone about a week later when I went back.

 

[WC1]

They had a parrot and wouldn't use any chemicals to clean it because chemicals can harm the bird,

Quite right! I don't use chemicals to clean my parrot either.

 

[Deedop]

Do you have any toilets with blue blocks in the cistern?

No we dont

 

[Deedop]

Is the tap dripping and leaving limscale which is picking up the colour from another source e.g. washing powder if washing clothes in sink or soap or shampoo with some blue in it.
There's a spot of blue fluid near the bottom of the plastic bottle. What is that?View attachment 47642

No its definitely coming from residue from the water coming from the tap

 

[Deedop]

If the water was drained down for an extended period before you moved in the copper pipes will oxidise and you will get some discoloration until the particles of oxide have been flushed out.
That looks excessive though, a house I recently worked on had some greeny/blue marks running down the ceramic bath from a tap that had been dripping slowly for years, was much fainter than your mark and the colour wasn't as deep.
They had a parrot and wouldn't use any chemicals to clean it because chemicals can harm the bird, they cleaned it off with bicarb and vinegar. Not sure how difficult it was for them but the stain had gone about a week later when I went back.

No parrots to worry about here haha. The house was occupied right up until we moved in so if it was drained down I don't think it would have been recent. I was surprised by the colour too we can certainly clean it away but ideally Id like to get to the bottom of it.

 

[exedon2]

Have seen this few times locally on properties with there own water supply basicly wells about 10mts deep
Copper pipe tends to pinhole due to water being acidic copper cylinders don't last long either. One property domestic totally repiped in plastic with stainless steel cylinder .
I would suggest op has a full analysis of there water supply done.

 

[Deedop]

Have seen this few times locally on properties with there own water supply basicly wells about 10mts deep
Copper pipe tends to pinhole due to water being acidic copper cylinders don't last long either. One property domestic totally repiped in plastic with stainless steel cylinder .
I would suggest op has a full analysis of there water supply done.

Thanks exedon2. We're on a group water scheme in a rural area. Sounds like next steps are to look into the water. Could that also cause corrosion in the metal bolts etc in the toilet? I've noticed they're very corroded.