[Equinox] Brown water from stateroom faucet

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, tonyd285 said:

The water on modern cruise ships is sea water which is processed in a desalinization system (reverse osmosis).  It tends to be high in sodium and sometimes the process is imperfect.  We always use only bottled water when cruising, including at meals, and avoid things like iced tea, etc.  The classic drink package includes unlimited bottled water which is highly purified.

If it makes one feel safer, go for bottled water yet just know while rare, there has been cases of bottled water being contaminated or “imperfect”

[mayleeman]

4 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

If it makes one feel safer, go for bottled water yet just know while rare, there has been cases of bottled water being contaminated or “imperfect”

 

Thanks for pointing that out. And it is worse, still:  water, liquor, fruit juice, fresh foods, meat, grains.... literally everything we eat or imbibe can get contaminated. Very few things in life are perfect with no historical aberrations. Ship have sunk, too. Planes crash. The dinosaurs got wiped out...

 

Drinking and using only bottled water on ships to protect yourself seems an expensive way since the risk is so low -- unless someone has the drink package, I suppose. With hundreds of thousands of people cruising every week, when was the last time we heard of a problem?

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, tonyd285 said:

The water on modern cruise ships is sea water which is processed in a desalinization system (reverse osmosis).  It tends to be high in sodium and sometimes the process is imperfect.  We always use only bottled water when cruising, including at meals, and avoid things like iced tea, etc.  The classic drink package includes unlimited bottled water which is highly purified.

Of all the things that concern us water on board is way down the list.

Teas, coffees, juices made from concentrates, all the food prepared and cooked on board, all the water served in the restaurants, all the washing of crockery, cutlery and dishes and the laundry. All of these and more use sea water processed onboard. 

[chengkp75]

5 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Thank you for correcting the information, I was going to do the same thing. Evaporated water is the same process for making distilled water. Also don't cruise ships add choline to the water to keep it bacteria free and sanitized?  

 

Since you are good source on this, which process do modern cruise ships use for water on the ship, evaporated or RO water?

Typically, both, as evaporator requires a lot of waste heat from the generators,  meaning higher speeds, while RO can be made at lower speeds,  or to supplement the evaporators.

[Georgia_Peaches]

On 5/5/2023 at 11:01 AM, CelebrityBrownWater said:

AC barely cooling the room on embarkation day.

Not minor in my book!!  Did the a/c improve?

[CelebrityBrownWater]

15 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Not minor in my book!!  Did the a/c improve?

 Yes, it was only an issue on embarkation day. Once the cabin cooled down it held the temp well enough.

[the penguins]

18 hours ago, CelebrityBrownWater said:

 Yes, it was only an issue on embarkation day. Once the cabin cooled down it held the temp well enough.

We find this is normal on embarkation day. We have always assumed it was because so many of the entrances to the ship are open not just for passengers but for the baggage and general supplies.

We go direct to our cabin, turn the Aircon to minimum and head for Al Bacio.

[Nuryalom]

I had a similar issue on a cruise once where the air conditioning was broken, and our room was really hot. We also had trouble with the shower not draining properly, which was a huge hassle. The brown water issue is really concerning. One thing I’ve learned is to always bring bottled water and keep a photo/video record of any problems. About the tap in the picture, do you guys use similar ones? I want to order one from Bathroom Taps because they offer high quality, and I really like the design. Are they comfortable to use? Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope your next trip is much better!

Edited July 13 by Nuryalom

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Has anyone done a plumbing repair in their own house 

you shut of the water and when you turn it back on , you can get brown water come out of the tap for about a minute 😉

[NutsAboutGolf]

52 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Has anyone done a plumbing repair in their own house 

you shut of the water and when you turn it back on , you can get brown water come out of the tap for about a minute 😉

Your house water doesn’t come from the ocean

[chengkp75]

10 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Has anyone done a plumbing repair in their own house 

you shut of the water and when you turn it back on , you can get brown water come out of the tap for about a minute 😉

 

9 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Your house water doesn’t come from the ocean

And, this has what to do with the response above yours?  Now, if there was a water main break underground, that contamination would be different than a ship, but that is not what the poster you are responding to is talking about.  If you repair something in your house, what difference does it make whether the water came from a well, a lake, a river, or the ocean?  But, as that poster stated, very often if you shut off the water in your house, you will have some brown water for a short while.  Why?  It's not from the ground, it's from an iron or steel piping or fitting that has dried out when the water was drained, and the rust has come off the inside, and then gets flushed through the rest of the piping.  This is very similar to what I've described as the reason for the discolored water on ships, that the chlorine scale on the inside of the pipes has dried out when the pipes are drained, and is then flushed through the system when water is restored.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

51 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

 

And, this has what to do with the response above yours?  Now, if there was a water main break underground, that contamination would be different than a ship, but that is not what the poster you are responding to is talking about.  If you repair something in your house, what difference does it make whether the water came from a well, a lake, a river, or the ocean?  But, as that poster stated, very often if you shut off the water in your house, you will have some brown water for a short while.  Why?  It's not from the ground, it's from an iron or steel piping or fitting that has dried out when the water was drained, and the rust has come off the inside, and then gets flushed through the rest of the piping.  This is very similar to what I've described as the reason for the discolored water on ships, that the chlorine scale on the inside of the pipes has dried out when the pipes are drained, and is then flushed through the system when water is restored.

Also on copper lines 

[NutsAboutGolf]

4 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

 

And, this has what to do with the response above yours?  Now, if there was a water main break underground, that contamination would be different than a ship, but that is not what the poster you are responding to is talking about.  If you repair something in your house, what difference does it make whether the water came from a well, a lake, a river, or the ocean?  But, as that poster stated, very often if you shut off the water in your house, you will have some brown water for a short while.  Why?  It's not from the ground, it's from an iron or steel piping or fitting that has dried out when the water was drained, and the rust has come off the inside, and then gets flushed through the rest of the piping.  This is very similar to what I've described as the reason for the discolored water on ships, that the chlorine scale on the inside of the pipes has dried out when the pipes are drained, and is then flushed through the system when water is restored.

 

Please apply your expertise on the subject, when a cruise ship's faucet water comes out brown, is it 100% because of rust and cannot be for any other reason?

[chengkp75]

20 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Please apply your expertise on the subject, when a cruise ship's faucet water comes out brown, is it 100% because of rust and cannot be for any other reason?

Or, as I've stated before on this thread, it is due to calcium/chlorine scale.  What other reason do you think would be the cause?  Given the fact that even shower heads on cruise ships have backflow preventers to keep potentially contaminated water from entering the water system from a shower head when the system is shut down, as well as the number of other requirements the ships have to meet regarding water system cross-contamination, yes, I will state that in 46 years of maintaining ships' water systems, that I've never seen, nor heard of any other form of contamination.

[NMTraveller]

Gross...

 

Don't eat yellow snow?

 

I would have kept a sample and had it tested ...

Edited July 14 by NMTraveller

[canderson]

To put this into a little perspective (maybe?)...

 

The cruise industry just a couple of years ago went through an event unlike any it had ever encountered before.  COVID.  During that period, and for the first time in most lines' history, they had ships without passengers for an extended period of time.  Without passengers in cabins moving water on a daily basis, thousands of lines went un'flushed' by normal use, and were permitted to go dry. 

 

For precisely the reasons @chengkp75 notes, before the restart could begin, the crew were obliged to stage their way through the entire ship, turning on every tap for some period of time to remove the brown crud from each and every line.  Miles and miles and miles of pipe. 

 

I've never taken exception to a @chengkp75 statement of fact before, but this one bizarre period in the industry actually did require a full "flushing" much of the water system above the water line to bring it back to a normal state!

 

[Tom and Ingrid]

On 5/4/2023 at 1:13 PM, chengkp75 said:

I can tell you what it is. 

Honestly, your "technical" posts are always enlightening to me.  Keep them up.  They really shed light on situations where there is a lot of conjecture or even misinformation/ignorance from crew when they try to explain a problem to the passenger(s).  

Thanks!

[NMTraveller]

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Or, as I've stated before on this thread, it is due to calcium/chlorine scale.  What other reason do you think would be the cause?  Given the fact that even shower heads on cruise ships have backflow preventers to keep potentially contaminated water from entering the water system from a shower head when the system is shut down, as well as the number of other requirements the ships have to meet regarding water system cross-contamination, yes, I will state that in 46 years of maintaining ships' water systems, that I've never seen, nor heard of any other form of contamination.

And the backflow preventers never break or fail?

Edited July 14 by NMTraveller

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

And the backflow preventers never break or fail?

Of course they do 

commercials building in Ontario  , they need to be tested yearly 

 

[NMTraveller]

22 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Of course they do 

commercials building in Ontario  , they need to be tested yearly 

 

Well we are not in Kansas anymore ...

 

Perhaps if they provided a solid explanation of the incident then we would not be on page 5 trying to guess.  A break down in customer service to say the least.

 

Without a water test,  even the best guess is just a guess.

Anyways I do not drink ship water and always drink bottled.  I have yet to see yellow bottled water...

Edited July 14 by NMTraveller

[mahdnc]

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Or, as I've stated before on this thread, it is due to calcium/chlorine scale.  What other reason do you think would be the cause?  Given the fact that even shower heads on cruise ships have backflow preventers to keep potentially contaminated water from entering the water system from a shower head when the system is shut down, as well as the number of other requirements the ships have to meet regarding water system cross-contamination, yes, I will state that in 46 years of maintaining ships' water systems, that I've never seen, nor heard of any other form of contamination.

How do you get contaminated water entering a shower head since it is its own air gap? Realistically you can’t get backflow from a shower head. Or is the concern drawing in gas/air?

Edited July 14 by mahdnc

[NMTraveller]

25 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

How do you get contaminated water entering a shower head since it is its own air gap? Realistically you can’t get backflow from a shower head. Or is the concern drawing in gas/air?

By connecting the wrong pipes?  I have seen crazy in my lifetime.  Perhaps this weekend was an example...

 

 

Edited July 14 by NMTraveller

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

And the backflow preventers never break or fail?

They are tested quarterly, and most of the small ones (cabin showers, toilets, etc) are replaced annually.

[chengkp75]

26 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

How do you get contaminated water entering a shower head since it is its own air gap? Realistically you can’t get backflow from a shower head. Or is the concern drawing in gas/air?

Because the shower head is a prime growth habitat for the legionella bacillus (legionnaire's disease), which is why the VSP requires ships to take all shower heads off and disinfect them in a 100ppm bleach solution for 1/2 hour every 6 months.

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

Because the shower head is a prime growth habitat for the legionella bacillus (legionnaire's disease), which is why the VSP requires ships to take all shower heads off and disinfect them in a 100ppm bleach solution for 1/2 hour every 6 months.

Ok. So you’re talking about the water In the shower head itself.