Hot water smells.

[padroo]

I have had trouble with my well water stinking for some time. It is only the hot water that smells and I have a taste and odor charcoal filter in my line. I have shocked my well several times and when I do the small in the hot water goes away for a while. With heavy chlorine in the system the house stinks like chlorine so I can't win. This is a new hot water heater, a 50 gallon Rheem I installed this spring. The old one stunk also but not as bad as the new one.

Tomorrow I am planning on removing the anode rod and have a Powered Anode Rod I bought online and we will see if it is the answer.

 

[MFGJR]

Pulled the anode, solved my identical problem instantly.

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[truckman5000]

have the water tested, there is something eating away at the old rod...

 

[Wood'nMetal]

Sounds like high sulfur content. Maybe try shocking your well with chlorine?

 

[jackfork]

The water in one of our rental farm houses had a pretty bad sulfur smell. It was coming mainly from the hot water. We replaced the anode in the hot water tank with one made of aluminum and zinc, and it helped a lot. The anode had a sticker on its box that said, "For stinky water". No joke.

 

[matt_i]

There is a different metal formulation anode rod. However my smell has returned after a couple of years. I suspect the anode rod needs to be changed again. I don't think you want to completely pull the anode forever, obviously it works for right now, but eventually you pay in the shorter life of the steel tank, which is more costly.

 

[ishiboo]

Air injection.

 

[djjsr]

Get the water tested. Take a sample before the filters. May be something serious, maybe not. Don't gamble.

 

[dave89iroc]

The water in one of our rental farm houses had a pretty bad sulfur smell. It was coming mainly from the hot water. We replaced the anode in the hot water tank with one made of aluminum and zinc, and it helped a lot. The anode had a sticker on its box that said, "For stinky water". No joke.

this, I'd say get one, if it takes care of it, buy a few more, so you are all set to change as soon as it starts again

 

[Piper27]

Pulled the anode, solved my identical problem instantly.

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Bingo!You can replace that Magnesium rod with an aluminum rod and still get the corrosion protection for your water heater tank without the odor.

 

[padroo]

The Powered Anode Rod is suppose to be superior to a normal anode rod and never needs replaced according to the manufacturer. Tomorrow when I change it I will find out. The strange thing is I have been using this well since 1983 with no problem.

 

[mmurray70]

Bingo!You can replace that Magnesium rod with an aluminum rod and still get the corrosion protection for your water heater tank without the odor.

I had the exact same problem, thought i had issues with water, even considererd drilling a deeper well but found it to simply be magnesium anode rod.

Bought an aluminum/zinc rod (appearantly this is best combo) from waterheaterrescue.com and problem solved. No smell at all after a day or so. What a releif. Definitely worth a try

 

[Falcon67]

When you shock the well for sulfur smell, you need to let it sit as much of a day as possible, then run the outside faucet until there's no chlorine smell. When we had a well that was sulfer, we just put in a big water softener to fix the problem. Then after we moved away from that area, everyone sued Mitchell Energy for polluting the ground water thanks to poorly cemented well casings. And won.

 

[mizzoutrover]

Turn up the hot water temp to 140 or higher, the reaction that causes the smell can't take place at the higher temp

 

[padroo]

I have shocked the well several times and the smell always comes back.


Here is what I used to shock my well.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SD7TPA8/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[mizzoutrover]

Check out this link
http://town.jaffrey.nh.us/Pages/JaffreyNH_DPW/Water/Rotteneggodor.pdf

 

[wantacoe]

Padroo, Please let us know how it works. I had my old water heater for 20 yrs, no problem. Then I replaced it just as a precaution. Big mistake, made water stink. Put the aluminum rod in and it didn't help at all. Now i put a pint of hydrogen peroxide in ever 3/4 weeks and it kills the smell. I heard of the powered anode but have not bought one yet.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

I drained my heater, and cleaned the scale out of the bottom with a shop vac. Then I changed the anode to aluminum, and changed the elements since I was in there, but the upper one was like new. Added a half a cup of bleach to the water heater only, did not shock the well.

Never had to go back.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

You can also shock the water heater by putting some bleach into a garden hose, and back feeding it up through the drain spigot of the heater. You don't have to disconnect anything.

When I pulled the magnesium anode, it looked like it had been in the ocean for 50 years and it was only a couple of years old. You need to replace yours.

 

[steve308]

www.waterheaterrescue.com

I cut in a junction that I could close off a section of pipe to add hydrogen peroxide (as per the article) I then open the system - turn on a hot water spigot to pull the peroxide into the tank - let it sit for a short while and problem is solved for up to six weeks. PS my outside untreated taps make rotten eggs smell like perfume.

Next to the tall white tank is where I add the peroxide to the system after closing off the water (red ball valve and draining - lower ball valve)

 

[Showkey]

The link Steve mentioned has real merit

Over shocking a well and you have a septic system.........not a good combo.........you later might be asking how to fix the the septic.

As others have mentioned ..........you run the water outside until the chlorine is gone.

That fact the order comes back just means the well water as issues that can be things like iron bacteria, sulfer, hydrogen sulfide, manganese just to mention just few.

Been down this road on a few different homes.......anode change can help, raising or lowering the hot water temp can help, iron filter maybe need, whole house carbon filter, softener and neutralizer might be need.........testing is the first step.

 

[Oggy]

The water in one of our rental farm houses had a pretty bad sulfur smell. It was coming mainly from the hot water. We replaced the anode in the hot water tank with one made of aluminum and zinc, and it helped a lot. The anode had a sticker on its box that said, "For stinky water". No joke.

If it's only the hot water it could be this.

Sounds like high sulfur content. Maybe try shocking your well with chlorine?

Get the water tested. Take a sample before the filters. May be something serious, maybe not. Don't gamble.

I have shocked the well several times and the smell always comes back.


Here is what I used to shock my well.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SD7TPA8/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Our water smelled, but it was both hot and cold, however it was more noticeable in the hot water because of the steam. Our well was shocked and it helped... for a while. What ended up being the solution was a peroxide injection pump.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

How often do you guys shock your wells? Mine was shocked 2 years ago and is starting to smell again, not all the time, but it's getting noticeable. I have a sanitary seal, and so can't shock it myself. It needs a well company to pull the pump first. Costs me a couple hundred to have it done. I also need a screen cleaning, so I'm looking at about 900.

 

[wantacoe]

Have had this problem since new water heater about 8 yrs ago. Hot water only so I know it is coming from the water heater. Put the hydrogen peroxide in it and it didn't help this time. Also noticed the cold was stinking now. I saw a open fire hydrant a block away. Talked to city worker, problems with a well. They have now been running that hydrant for 3 weeks!

 

[atthebeach]

You did not mention if you had a storage tank; but when we used to have a well, the water was pumped into a 5,000 gallon holding tank vented by screen material to the atmosphere. This tank was between the well and the pressure tank. The tank served as a source of water in the event of fire and allowed adequate water supply when the household short term utilization needs exceeded what the well was capable of supplying.

Once a week I dumped a gallon jug of bleach into the well which prevented the growth of iron fungus in the well and algae in the holding tank during the week. If I got lazy, and let it go a couple of weeks the water would get stinky - especially the hot water. It was the right dilution ratio so that the water never smelled like chlorine, however.

 

[mikec35]

Had the same problem and a reverse osmosis system cured it. I would definitely get the water tested. It'll tell you what you need.

 

[windward]

I had the same problem when it went to a new water heater. I switched to a power anode and have not had a problem since. Well worth the money.


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[Lopott]

Get water tested. If high h2s go with above. Iron can be a problem too. That is what we have. Iron curtain is the cure. Eliminate the iron as a food source and can cure both sides.

 

[djjsr]

I don't think the problem is your water heater. Take a cold sample, before the filter, and heat it up on the stove. I'm betting it smells when it's heated.

 

[432bullet]

We use modified carbon block filters. They get rid of the smell and they can be washed in a soap water, bleach solution and be reused. The carbon wrap taste and water filters were useless for our problem.

 

[DonPowers]

My well develops an odor from time to time, usually occurs after periods of prolonged heavy rains. Have always attributed it to ground water infiltration. When tested, results come back normal.

I was on site the day they drilled my well. Top 5 to 6 ft, clay. Next 30ish feet gravel. Casing goes to about 47 ft and well 140 ft. Suction at 125 ft, water level in well 5 to 6 ft from top. The well is around 60 ft from a lake with woods all around.

 

[joe_padavano]

I have exactly the same problem, and the powered anode fixed it. I flushed the water heater with bleach before installing the new anode. I do have a chlorine injection system and a big charcoal filter that has been in place for over a decade. That fixed the overall sulpher smell in the cold water but the hot water persisted. I finally bit the bullet and installed the powered anode, and that fixed the hot water problem.

 

[mmurray70]

I don't think the problem is your water heater. Take a cold sample, before the filter, and heat it up on the stove. I'm betting it smells when it's heated.

Ours was definitly the hot water boiler anode. You could boil water on the stove or boil kettle and it was fine but turn on the hot water tap and it would stink.

Its some sort of reaction with the magnesium and the minerals or micro orginisms in the water which create hydrogen sulfide gas which stinks. The longer the water sits in the boiler without being used the worse it gets too. If you go on vacation it will be really bad afterwards. Larger boilers (we have a 60g) will tend to stink more too since the water sits there longer.

In any case its definitely worth a shot considering an aluminum zinc anode is less then $100. Super easy and cheap potential fix for what you might think is a very serious problem.

Honestly try it. I was very doubtful as well, but thought what the heck. The cost is penneys compared to a new well. No big loss if it didnt work. And now its perfect!

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[padroo]

I installed the Powered Anode Rod yesterday. I had a brand new Milwaukee 18V impact that I had never used and with a 1 1/16 six point socket I broke the old anode rod loose.
All I had to do was really bump it and it broke loose. The instructions recommend not spinning it all the way out with the impact so I switched over to a ratchet and pulled the old Magnesium anode rod out, I had enough overhead clearance so I did't have to get physical with it. It was black its full length and not eroded but had the sulphur smell.

The installation took a total of about one hour but a lot of time was spent draining down the water tank a little and opening and closing faucets. On a scale of one to ten it was a one.

The water smells better but not where it needs to be, I din't buy the peroxide so I didn't put it in the tank while I had the old anode rod out, I have some chlorine tablets
bud didn't put those in the tank either. Today I gave the well a mild shock to see if that will finish the job. If I do a heavy shock I have to pull my whole house filter and bypass my water softener so I am in a wait and see mode at the moment.

Here is where I bought the powered anode rod from, it is pricey.

http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/pages/WHRpages/English/OrderPages/XCart/Power-Anode-Coupling.html


Thanks for all the suggestions, I appreciate your help, at least on GJ you know you are not all alone.

 

[mmurray70]

Give it a few days and see if it gradually dissapears. Might take a while for the tank to be really flushed out a couple times. Hope it works out for you.

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[joe_padavano]

Give it a few days and see if it gradually dissapears. Might take a while for the tank to be really flushed out a couple times. Hope it works out for you.

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X2. I completely drained mine, backfilled, added chlorine, drained again, THEN buttoned everything up. Been working great with no smell for about six months now.

 

[WWShop]

This was a recent question on the tv show Ask This Old House. The fix was to replace anode with aluminum. It was also mentioned that the water is most likely safe even though it smells bad.

 

[Showkey]

Ours was definitly the hot water boiler anode. You could boil water on the stove or boil kettle and it was fine but turn on the hot water tap and it would stink.

Its some sort of reaction with the magnesium and the minerals or micro orginisms in the water which create hydrogen sulfide gas which stinks. The longer the water sits in the boiler without being used the worse it gets too. If you go on vacation it will be really bad afterwards. Larger boilers (we have a 60g) will tend to stink more too since the water sits there longer.

In any case its definitely worth a shot considering an aluminum zinc anode is less then $100. Super easy and cheap potential fix for what you might think is a very serious problem.

Honestly try it. I was very doubtful as well, but thought what the heck. The cost is penneys compared to a new well. No big loss if it didnt work. And now its perfect!

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Do you get black specs or black residue after the water sits unused ? Mine if the pressure dropped then the black stuff was pushed through the pipes.

One house I had your similar problem with the the black stuff. Also the rubber bladder membrane in the well storage tank can also be a place for the iron bacteria to grow.

Anode change did help in my case.

 

[mmurray70]

Do you get black specs or black residue after the water sits unused ? Mine if the pressure dropped then the black stuff was pushed through the pipes.

One house I had your similar problem with the the black stuff. Also the rubber bladder membrane in the well storage tank can also be a place for the iron bacteria to grow.

Anode change did help in my case.

I didnt notice any black specs no. There was a little discoloration at first after draining the boiler and changing the anodes. But it went away shortly after. Probably dirt knocked off the old anode

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[idoine in toronto]