Copper from pipework

The water supply authorities normally insist that (for uses other than drinking-water taps) their main should discharge into a break-pressure vessel, after which the water quality becomes the consumers responsibility. The water tank should be covered against tramp dirt and access by birds, etc., and it must be shielded from sunlight to avoid the growth of algae. Nevertheless, access must be maintained for easy inspection. The distribution pipework is preferably all plastic and lead must be avoided altogether. The use of copper is doubtful with some corrosive waters, and soldered joints in it can lead to unacceptable concentrations of lead in the water. 

Condensate returns lines are often copper. Copper has good corrosion resistance to oxygen and carbon dioxide individually. When both gases are present in the condensate, copper is susceptible to corrosion. Copper picked up in the condensate system and returned to the boiler causes serious corrosion problems in the boiler and any steel feedwater and steam pipework. Boiler tubes should last for 25 years but can fail within one year in a mismanaged or ill-designed boiler system suffering from these faults. 

Metal ion concentrations in water vary enormously across Europe. The water hardness of the market area can be found fairly easily from water companies hardness maps. Some data on transition metal ion limits and measurements can also be found from water quality data, but even these might not be enough to determine what the consumer uses. For instance, metal ions can dissolve out of pipework into domestic water after it has left the water supplier s plant. Copper is commonly leached out of copper pipes and this can be more acute after leaving for even as short a time as overnight, and so while typical copper levels are much less than 1 ppm [33] there have been measurements up to 5 ppm [34] from domestic taps in European households. 

Surface mercuiy usually is in the metallic form. Simple washing of the surface can be very effective. High-pressure water can remove mercury quickly splash containment is necessary. Steel and rubber-lined pipework can be retorted or cleaned with HCI/CI2 or NaOH/H2C>2. These solutions oxidize the metal to the soluble Hg +. Heavily contaminated steel will sweat mercury. Lott [19] points out that broken concrete from a cell room floor also can sweat mercury if allowed to stand overnight. Components should be stored with this in mind. Liquid droplets can be collected. The storage area should be ventilated because of evaporation of the mercury. Buswork and copper fabrications are protected by surface films and usually are not seriously contaminated with mercury. Surface washing is good practice before recycle. Copper braid or flexible strips can be more heavily contaminated and require treatment in a mercury distillation oven. 

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