rotten egg smell help

[gregtwojeeps]

We turn the hot water faucet on in the bathroom vanity the first thing in the morning and for just 2 seconds... we get the rotten egg smell. The rest of the time/day...no other smells from any plumbing fixtures in the house.

If memory serves me well, this smell can be caused from anything from too much iron in the water, (we have city water) bad sacrificial anodes in the water heater, or even bacteria building up in a "dead" water line ???

We have :

1. City water
2. A natural gas water heater -40 gallon unit. It is a Lowes unit that I do not know the age of. It is a EnviroTemp mod # BFG1A4034T3NOV

I have Googled the WH and cannot find out the age of it or anything about it. Would the last four 3NOV mean it is a unit built in NOV 2003 ?

I would like to not go at this problem by buying a new WH and find out it wasn't the problem. What say the plumbing GJ gurus .... about how to track this issue down ? Thanks, Greg

 

[dfiler2]

If it is just the hot water I would suspect a build up of gas in the system that rises to that point overnight. It could be caused by the sacrificial rod or it could just exist in the water. Would you have the same thing in other faucets if you turned them on first? Any neighbors have the same problem?

 

[MDSPHOTO]

Could be gasses in the trap or could be a build up on the rod in your hot water heater.

 

[luvit]

there are many combination factors for that smell in your hot water.. it's interesting that it correlates with the fact that you have city water.. so build-up could be the main source.

if this is becomes continuing problem, a permanent solution to eliminate excessive flushing with bleach or hydrogen peroxide would be to install a powered anode [LINK].

I don't have this rotten egg smell problem, but while I made upgrades to my water heater, I installed a ball valve in case I ever need to tend to the same problem with adding bleach or hydrogen peroxide to my water heater in the future..

 

[sixty4]

Just did this to a rental we have 3 months ago. Drained the tank added bleach let it sit over night. Next day flushed it clean and changed the annode rod out. That worked for us.

 

[koditten]

The anode in the water heater is eroding and creating the sulfur smell. We always called them the fart rod. Remove the anode and plug the hole with a pipe plug. Its there to keep your water heater from rusting out prematurely. We would rather replace the water heater a bit sooner vs living with that smell.

 

[dfiler2]

This site has some pretty good info on the subject.

http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/pa...ooting/stinky-water-in-hot-water-heaters.html

 

[larry4406]

The anode in the water heater is eroding and creating the sulfur smell. We always called them the fart rod. Remove the anode and plug the hole with a pipe plug. Its there to keep your water heater from rusting out prematurely. We would rather replace the water heater a bit sooner vs living with that smell.

Why not replace the anode vs removing it?

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Thanks all for the good replies....

I have read the replies here and it appears the consensus of opinion tallies up to be the anodes failing in my WH. So, before I tackle the job of removing anodes I needed to find out the age of my water heater ...just to be sure I was not trying to "water a dead horse" so to speak. ..

My WH looks very new, but we know looks can be deceiving. ...
In my on line research looking for my EnviroTemp WH's age, I have discovered at least to me, a real GEM of resources for any homeowner in regards to maintaining their home / appliances. http://inspectapedia.com/


The downside of my DD is.... I found out my water heater was manufactured during the week of Dec 20, 2010. It was built during the festive season while workers sampled their co-workers bourbon candy, fruit cakes, and eggnog. I am not so sure now, whether it will be worth the effort of changing out the anode(s) on my holiday season fabricated WH .

 

[djjsr]

If the anode rod doesn't fix the problem, get your water analyzed. I had a similar problem that went away after the city water dept spent 12 million dollars refurbishing their filters and tanks.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Does it do it anyplace besides bathroom?

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Does it do it anyplace besides bathroom?

Z, I read your question last night before bedding down...So this morning when we got up ....before any water was run anywhere, I started opening the faucets at the sinks.... starting at the 1/2 bath back by the water heater. Slowly the cold first, then the hot.

1/2 bath= no smell
kitchen = no smell
full bath in the center of the home= egg smell on cold side

I drew a sketch showing a outdoor hydrant that does not get used often and will not be used at all this winter. The 1/2 in. line has a "hump" in it as it was ran under, then over a floor joist support beam....making its own trap .

Is it possible the dead line could be getting bacteria washed up in it ? The smell resembles a hydrogen sulfide smell, but not totally like a grease trap emits.. if that makes any sense. And the smell only last two seconds max..

The hydrant's 1/2 in. copper line is T tapped on to the full baths sink cold supply line, located in the crawlspace right under the full bath's vanity base cabinet.

With the gas WH being almost six years old now and it works great on recovery and supplying hot water for just the two of us, should I go ahead and just replace the anode(s) ?

I cannot find a parts place that furnishes parts for a EnviroTemp WH on the net, but I found out on the Inspectapedia site that it is made by American. I can go to our local Brock McVey plumbing supply that carries American WH's and maybe get an anode tomorrow. Thanks,

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Open up the hydrant ant see if the water coming out of it stinks,If it does run it for 1/2 hr or so and get the rust/trash out of that line.
Then go back and check the bath faucet again.

 

[djjsr]

I replace anode rods in my commercial water heaters and tanks. I've found that they are not brand specific but size specific, length, diameter and thread size.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Open up the hydrant ant see if the water coming out of it stinks,If it does run it for 1/2 hr or so and get the rust/trash out of that line.
Then go back and check the bath faucet again.

I'll do this ^^^ in the morning and report back my findings.


On Edit : Monday 10/05/2015 at 7:05 EST..... The smell is not coming from the dead line water hydrant out on the front of the house. When I ran the hydrant a few minutes ago I put the first five gallons of water in to a clean five gallon bucket. No rust, no residue of any kind was left in the bucket, water was clear and no smell . Watered the yard for a few more minutes and still no smell. Checked the bath sink faucet and the smell is still there. WH anode change out is next on my search agenda along with a WH tank draining.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Here is the old anode...it looks like it has done its job but not so sure if it is bad enough to create the smell. I have replaced it with a new one that is for an Amercian WH that appears to be aluminum. I'll find out in the morning when we get up and turn the vanity water on... whether or not, I have cured the problem. .

On Edit: 10/08/2015 Smell is gone now, so it was just the anode that needed changing. A $19.00 fix.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Taking out the anode and throwing it away is a terrible idea as it will vastly decrease the life of your water heater. Often the only difference between the standard life water heaters and the longer life one is the mass of the anode.

The anode will corrode rather than the tank right up until it either "dissolves" completely or you remove it. At that point all future corrosion will occur at any holiday (defect) in the tank coating and will rapidly result in tank failure and the need to buy a new water heater.

Sorry I can offer no advice for OP, but it is interesting that the smell is at the cold water outlet. That would tend to make me discount the water heater...but I really don't know that would be correct.

Phil