Rotten egg smell in water at home & fix

[ctpres]

House prep for our summer 2011 road trip included leaving hot water heater on for possible guests and occasional house cleaning. After four months on the road our (at home) hot water smelled really bad. Did some research and found many solutions: remove anode, different type of anode, bleach in tank, peroxide in tank and cook tank with 160 degree water for three hours. Being lazy I opted for the cooking method. Set both element thermostats to 150 degree (max setting) waited three hours and ran hot water till cold. Now, days later still no smell. Simple fix worked! Moral of the story - don't leave hot water heater on for extended trips.

[Yellowreef]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctpres House prep for our summer 2011 road trip included leaving hot water heater on for possible guests and occasional house cleaning. After four months on the road our (at home) hot water smelled really bad. Did some research and found many solutions: remove anode, different type of anode, bleach in tank, peroxide in tank and cook tank with 160 degree water for three hours. Being lazy I opted for the cooking method. Set both element thermostats to 150 degree (max setting) waited three hours and ran hot water till cold. Now, days later still no smell. Simple fix worked! Moral of the story - don't leave hot water heater on for extended trips.

Draining the water heater tank using the drain valve at the bottom works too. Gets rid of all the sediment that accumulates over time.

[dvmweb]

Sulfur, bacteria turn it into hydrogen sulfide and that's the rotten egg smell. We have a well with hard water at our house, and it has some sulfur in it. So, after we get home I always drain our water tank and water heater. You can chlorinate your fresh water tank with a little bit of bleach. But, drain your fresh water system too.

[bigdale]

We have same problem. We live in Indiana in the country and have well water. We had to buy a Kinetico water softner to cure problem.

[Jeane]

Where is the thermostat to raise the temperature of hot water heater. Ours only gets luckwarm.

[ctpres]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeane Where is the thermostat to raise the temperature of hot water heater. Ours only gets luckwarm.

If only "warm" you probably have a bad heating element (if electric). Most electric water heaters have an upper and lower heating element with a thermostat under a metal cover plate, one near the top and one near the bottom. TURN OFF electricity to heater, remore cover plate and there will probably be small squares of fiberglass insulation that can be removed exposing thermostat and a plastic cover over the wireing. The thermostat should have a slotted screw with numbers/degree settings printed around it.
If this is not helpful, let us know what you see and a real plumber will help

[JimM68]

My wife's studio building always had rotten egg smelling hot water, sage is very low there.

I drained and flushed the water tank many times, no help.

Finally at the suggestion of a plumber friend, I removed the anode rod and replaced it with a pie plug.
Magic. Problem solved.

[Max Hubrich]

ctpres,

I'm just curious, are you on well water?

If you are, that could be the root cause of your problem.

Most city water supplies are chlorinated and that helps prevent that problem.

Here is a comment on this issue-

From: Wikipedia

Quote:

Chlorination is the process of adding the element chlorine to water as a method of water purification to make it fit for human consumption as drinking water. Water which has been treated with chlorine is effective in preventing the spread of waterborne disease. The chlorination of public drinking supplies was originally met with resistance, as people were concerned about the health effects of the practice. The use of chlorine has greatly reduced the prevalence of waterborne disease as it is effective against almost all bacteria and viruses, as well as amoeba

Please let us know--

[SRT]

We are on well water (420 deep, 80 feet of that is glacial overburden, the rest is rock). Our well water is soft and has iron in it. We rent a device from Culligan that cleans the water up. Bleach is run through one a month.

[Perry White]

Put a whole hose 4"x10" filter housing and use a carbon block filter element and you won't have the smell from your well water. Use a water softner(buy it yourself, renting is a waste) and then use Iron Out with the salt.

[ctpres]

I'm just curious, are you on well water?
Yes we are.