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Three years ago we added a new bathroom along with a small new water heater. The hot water always smells like sulpher (rotten eggs) I have tried several times just running all of the hot water out of the tank, but it only last for about a day and then we are right back to stinky hot water. I really hate the nasty smell, and it is a real problem when we have guests. Please help
Take a look at this link. There are anaerobic bacteria that form sulphur gas in combination with the anodes in a hot water heater. An anode in a water heater is a piece of metal used as a 'sacrifice'; it corrodes so that other parts of your water heater don't. They're not very expensive
And then you can do what I did and just take that rod out of your hot water tank that is in it and the smell...just went away!
It does void the manufactors warranty but I suppose if something went wrong - and you happen to have saved that rod you took out - then it may have to find its way back in?
Rod out - Smell all gone. But truth be told I first spent over $1000 on some fancy ass system to take that sulphur smell out. But it did not. It did help with rust, even though my softener works well it worked even better. But the smell - still there. Then I just took out that rod. Easy schmeezy! And FREE!
I could tell you how if you want. Let me know.
...housewife in Indiana who hated sulphur smell in my shower!
I knew about the other rods you can buy but have heard they do not work? Has anyone tried one of them? They are about $50 to buy the different kind of one.
edited to include this:
Claypa I just went and read that link you have above and it is very informative. I had tried the hydrogen peroxide thing and it did not work for long for me. I do not know if it is because we have a large household or not but it only lasted about a month. That is when we bought that other treatment system. It also did not work. I did not save the anode in my water heater. I would not replace it if my heater did break down during warranty because well I just would not. But, it has been out for a year or so now and is working fine. I do drain off my water heaters about every year or so. I was told to do that to prevent corrosion from building up. Not sure if that works or not?
If you're determined not to have an anode in the tank, consider draining it more often - you don't have to drain the whole thing either, just let the stuff in the bottom out until it's clear.
The smell in your water is from sulfate reducing bacteria. This is a very common nation wide problem, as this is a naturally occuring bacteria in everyone's water. You need to follow several steps to fix the problem. Drain the water from the tank (turn off the power to the heater first if it is electric and the gas if it is gas!) then change the anode rod. Do not leave the anode rod out. It protects the tank, and it is stupid to leave it off. Why make your water heater corrode faster? After you have changed the anode rod, pour some chlorine bleach in your water heater (the amount needed varies according to the size of your tank). Fill the tank back up with water and run the fixture fed by the heater until you smell the bleach. Turn off the fixture and wait for 15 to 30 minutes. Drain the tank again and refill it. Run the fixture fed by it until you no longer smell bleach and then turn back on the power or gas to the heater. The new anode rod should be an antibacterial metal ( I believe they are aluminum) where your original was not (I believe they are magnesium). The bleach will kill any residual bacteria, and the new anode rod will retard the growth of any new cultures. Aside from installing a chlorination system on your incoming line, this is the only permanent fix that will allow your system to function as it was designed to do.
