Bath water is randomly brown - happened three times now

Sediment has built up high enough inside the water heater to start entering the pickup tube.

Try to flush the water heater to the tub from the attic with a garden hose and that may help.

Do not run the garden hose outside the hot water will kill your grass and shrubs.

Probably way past time to replace the sacrificial anode also but you may or may not be able to remove the existing one.

Lots of good YouTube videos on these topics.

Good luck!

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Does it matter if it’s a tankless?

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Yes. Tankless do not have a tank...

So you are saying you have a tankless?

This is important info you should include in your OP to get good advice.

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It’s a tankless.

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Brown water comes from contaminants in the water. Rust, dirt, minerals, etc.

Do you have ANY steel piping in the house? If so, could be corrosion from those pipes.

If not it could be contamination from the water system beyond your house. Does your municipality have any steel piping in their system? Are they doing any repairs or upgrades nearby? Have you called them and asked them or made a complaint for brown water? Have they done a chlorine burn lately from a repair or leak (can release contaminants on the inside of old pipes).

Have you researched the water test results published by your local water municipality? Do they report high levels of Iron or sediments? These are public record.

Trying to help here but not enough info. Brown water does not come from clean running pipes and clean running water supply.

Not trying to be mean but you may have to dig a little to sort this out.

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The brown water could be caused because the city fire department is flushing their fire hydrants.

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Certainly possible. I would hope the local water company would get notified by the FD if they are doing that.

Something else for OP. Ask the neighbors if they are experiencing similar events. This might help figure out if this is unique to OP’s house or not.

Might be Manganese

I live in country with a rural water system.Anytime a water line breaks they are supposed to put out a boil water advisory but they don’t.A water line broke close to my house,I reported it and saw them fixing it but no advisory.I get brown water occasionally from that.I have a dedicated faucet kitchen sink with a filter,that’s all we drink.
Also have filter on refrigerator for ice maker.