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Brown spotting in stainless steel cooking pots

I have purchased 2 12 qt stainless cooking pots. One with some nickel one was 18/0. In both cases I boiled water in them to see if I would have any problems. In the first case several brown spots appeared in the bottom of the pot when water was removed. In the 18/0 pot, some brown spots but not as many as the first case. Is this normal? I do not want to have a pot that this may increase or spread as I start to use it for cooking. Any reasons why this occurs? Will it damage pot over time?
Thanks in advance for any responses.

BRUCE HANSON
HOMEOWNER - CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA
2007

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We've posted hundreds of inquiries about stainless flatware rusting, Bruce, and people have struggled to attribute it to their well water, or their use of lemon detergents, or their stainless-lined dishwashers, or the stainless flatware touching silverplate while cleaning, and a number of other causes. These potential explanations, however, are simply not doing it, and many people are reporting that their old stainless does not rust while their new -- of nearly every brand -- does, even side by side in the dishwasher.

I wish Consumer Reports or some able testing agency would investigate, but in the meanwhile we all need our personal hypotheses, and after posting these hundreds of such inquiries and comments, my tentative hypothesis is that much of the stainless coming out of China is just no good. There is more to making stainless steel "stainless" than just the alloy composition, and I think something is being missed. We live in an era of "meatball whoring" -- licensing old-line logos (meatballs) to 3rd parties, and I think a lot of the "brand name" stainless is now made by unqualified 3rd parties in China who pay a license fee. I have no reason to think it doesn't happen with pots & pans as well as flatware. If an expert would like to disabuse me of this notion I'd appreciate it; it's only a theory to explain something that I otherwise can't.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007