After Bathroom Remodel Water Plastic/Metal Taste off Faucet

[pc95]

My Mom just had 2 of her bathroom moderately remodeled. Looked to do a nice job, however, when brushing my teeth with water from the new faucet, the water came out with strong plastic/metallic taste - it was not palatable, and I noticed permeated my too brush bristles and even my hand/skin - and stayed on it. When I checked water from our older faucets, no such taste or fragrance, so I believe it to be the building materials installed in the piping/faucet. The faucet itself is a "Delta" brand and the piping underneath looks like PVC or PEX plastic. I read that the taste will fade, but worried that it is unhealthy, and whether the piping or faucet or both.

Any experience with this?

Suffice to say will not be brushing my teeth in those bathrooms anymore.

Kinda reminds me years ago of using CamelBak water packs and having a totally unpalatable plastic taste coming from the reservoir - to the point of inability to use.

I dont drink from our taps in general but this is too much - feels like nobody did their homework on this. Gonna have to confront mother about this.

 

[Surewhitey]

Probably short term thing. Just let it run for a bit or just wash hands until it looses the new car taste...

 

[pb4uski]

+1 I suspect that it will disipate. However, our whoe new build was PEX and we never got what you describe, so I don't think it is the PEX... perhaps the fixture. Is the distasteful thing in both of the remodeled bathrooms?

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

My kitchen faucet gets an off taste/odor (like from a hot garden hose) from the water sitting in the faucet itself... one of HD's house brands. I run a few ounces before using the water (it gets used on plants or to run the garbage disposal or rinsing dirty dishes -I didn't FIRE by wasting water!). I didn't notice it the first 6-8 months but then it started. Assume there is some reaction with the chlorine/chloramines and the plastic in the flexible tube (pull out faucet). in fact I wonder if it was when they switched back to chlorine for a brief period... maybe I should actually check again! I've just habitually run it for a second for quite a while.

 

[JoeWras]

I think OP is just very sensitive to the plastic taste. The evidence is the Camelback story. I love me some Camelback plastic taste. I'm weird.

Nothing wrong with that OP, just making an observation.

And here's the problem. A lot of people think that faucets are getting all this internal plastic due to manufacturers being cheap. That is part of it, but only part. A big factor is metal and lead counts in water. Internally soldered parts can leach metals. So manufacturers have gone to a lot of internal plastic, even if the outer spout is metal.

Back in the day, we were told to run the faucet for 10 seconds or so before drinking. This would flush out the lead that may have leached from the faucet. Perhaps now the advice should be to flush for 5 or 10 seconds to get rid of the dissolved plastics.

 

[Aerides]

Gonna have to confront mother about this.

Unless you have a reason to think there is a health risk in doing nothing, don't say anything. She might not notice or not care. If you say something, now she has a an expensive problem to deal with.

 

[ERD50]

Could also be the 'junk' that got disturbed by turning the pressure on/off.

Remove/clean the aerator screens, flush the system some more, and see. I doubt it is a health risk.

-ERD50

 

[JoeWras]

Could also be the 'junk' that got disturbed by turning the pressure on/off.

Remove/clean the aerator screens, flush the system some more, and see. I doubt it is a health risk.

-ERD50

That's excellent advice. I endorse your idea. A plastic shaving or two caught in the screen could create obvious taste.

 

[njhowie]

We bought a couple Delta faucets for our new vanities a few months ago. It similarly had PEX hoses.

We didn't have any taste issues with the water.

One thing you may try...I remember that they include a plastic tool that lets you unscrew the aerator/screen where the water comes out of the faucet. The installation instructions said it was necessary to take it out and let the water run for a few minutes to allow any particles in the lines from the manufacturing process to flush out. Don't know if it will help, but it's a thought.

 

[easysurfer]

Was plumber's putty used? If so, maybe some of the odor is leaking into the faucet?