Odor Probems

[Darrel]

I am experiencing a strange odor problems with my water in the MH. It seems to be mostly the hot water which has developed a sicky sweet smell. (My wife describes it as a dead mouse smell) I have performed the bleach solution flush with no improvement. A friend had a somewhat similar problem and fixed it by filling the hot water heater with vinegar and heating it overnight. I tried that and it somewhat alleviated the problem. I winterized the coach with pink stuff and after coming south, a month later the problem is back again.
I would sure appreciate your thoughts on this. The water heater is the kind with an anode on the drain plug. Could that be causing some of the problem. It takes 8 gallons of vinegar to cook and I don't care to do that every 2 months.
Thanks for any advice - Darrel

[AFChap]

Anode rods often cause strange odor in the water as they wear down. Try replacing it. Another possibility, I noted a strange odor once after de-winterizing and eventually decided I failed to completely flush the pink antifreeze out. My theory was that the residue in the system reacted with the anode rod.

[Gary RVRoamer]

The usual small from a water heater is rotten eggs (hydrogen sulfide), caused by a bacteria that can thrive in hot water in dark places. A 4-6 hour bleach solution will cure that, but you also need to sanitize the hot water lines or it will come right back.

You don't need pure vinegar for a tank soak - 10- 20% solution should be plenty.

I'd replace the anode too, "just in case".

If none of those do it, I'm fresh out of ideas.

[Darrel]

Thank for your thoughts. I love this forum.
I would know Hydrogen Sulfide smell from Chem 101 and this is something different. I can't recall now if I might have bypassed the hot water heater when I used bleach on the system. At the time I was thinking fresh water supply tank. I'me going to do that next. Also the old Anode is history.

Thanks again and have a nice day - Darrel

[dmason]

Just read an article in Feb's FMCA magazine about the same problem. The lengthy reply (almost a full page) went into a detailed "how to get rid of the smell". The article is titled "Fresh Water Chlorination".