Gina Branch

I received a call from one of my clients today. They recently moved into a home and after unpacking they decided to take a nice soak in the jetted tub. They filled the tub, grabbed a bottle of Champagne, and got ready to get into the tub. When they tuned on the jets, a bunch of “black stuff” came out of the jets. They were upset and were going to call out a plumber to look at it.

First, don’t panic! The “black stuff” occurs when the tub is not used for extended periods of time. The water left over in the plumbing for the jets dries out leaving behind the residue my clients noted in the tub.

While it looks bad, it is easy to fix. I had them add a little chlorine bleach (note you should not get into the water with the bleach in it!) to the bath water, run it for a while, and then drain all the water. Once the tub is refilled and the jets turned on, it was normal again.

If you’re having this kind of problem, try the chlorine bleach cleaning before you call the plumber.

Photo – Copyright 2011 Imaged2Sell