text: Many waters in both the UK and Europe are capable of supporting Type 1 pitting but no problems will be experienced unless a pit is initiated in the wall of the tube. When a copper tube is initially filled with a hard water salts deposit on the wall and the copper slowly reacts with the water producing a thin protective layer of mixed corrosion products and hardness scale. If any pitting of the tube is to occur then this film must be locally disrupted. There are three mechanisms that allow the disruption of the protective deposits. The most well known, although now the least common, is the presence of carbon films on the bore. Stagnation and flux residues are the most common initiation mechanisms that have led to Type 1 pitting failures in the last ten years.