brown water?? hot only cold is clear

[Jason978]

just stared happing..im wondering if its my hot water heater..i have a private well and havent had any work done recently... i changed the filter and still brown water.. any ideas

[HayZee518]

can you change the media to a white filter or is the charcoal filter the only replacement? has the area around the well been agitated by some means - high traffic, seismic activity?

[Jason978]

well my cold water is fine. crystal clear so its gotta be the hotwater tank not the well.

[HayZee518]

In that case yes - shut off the cold water feed to the hot water tank. if its gas turn the control to pilot, if its electric shut off the breaker. connect up a garden hose to the tank boiler drain. open the drain and one hot water spigot and see what comes out. if some junk comes out, drain it until it runs clear. shut the drain and open the cold inlet. let the tank fill, then drain it again. tanks have a sacrificial anode that's supposed to coat any internal scratches that might happen inside the tank. but these anodes only can go so far. could be your anode is completely dissolved and the water is acting upon the tank wall itself. shut off the water to the tank, drain the tank a little, use a pipe wrench and remove what looks like a pipe plug in the tank top. it might have a square or hex shaped head. the anode is about 8 inches long, silver and tapered.