Stinky Rotten Egg Hot Water

QUOTE=LakeOzarksGal]I know several questions have been posted on this topic, but here is my situation and I am hoping someone will have a few words of wisdom.

My home is 2 yrs old and I am on well water-very hard well water. I had no problems with taste, smell etc. Except the hard water spots until now. In Feb. My water heater stopped heating the water, so I had a plumber come in, check it out and install a new heating element. The plumber said only one of the elements was bad. A few weeks later same thing-the other heating element went out. Paid for another service call to have the second element replaced. Immediately after the second element was installed I noticed water on my floor. I cleaned it up & next day-more water on the floor-continued to watch for a few days--same thing--leaking from somewhere. I called the plumber again. Paid for another service call. Plumber said there was a hole in the tank-needed a new water heater. Warranty would pay for new tank but not the labor to install...Paid the service call, labor and disposal fees. (I could have purchased a new water heater by now I think!) Once the new water heater was installed, I noticed the lovely sulpher smell when using the hot water. I figured it was from the installation etc and waited a while for things to get flushed out. The smell kept getting worse. I called the plumber again and asked about it having a faulty anode (magnesium) rod. They called the manufacturer and the mfg says it is my water that smells and they won't do anything about it. I will have to pay (again) to replace it or I can have the rod removed. Keep in mind I never had this problem before and none of my neigbors have smelly water either and they are on the same well. I have a townhouse and even the people in the same building as I don't have this problem either.

After doing much research and talking to other plumbers, I have found that I can remove the anode rod and not replace it. But that invalidates any future warranty I have on the tank. And if I remove the rod, it will probably shorten the length of the life of the water heater greatly. I could have the magnesium rod replaced with an aluminum rod, but I have read that aluminum can be dangerous or poisonous. If I replace the magnesium rod with another magnesium rod, it might not take care of the situation. I can "shock" the system with good old bleach or I can drain some of the water from the tank, add a few pints of hydrogen peroxide and flush it through etc. I am completely confused and sick of wasting money on this. Am I stuck with smelly water or should I keep fighting for the plumber or manufacturer (Rheem) to replace the magnesium anode rod? If I go for replacement, what do I have installed? I don't know which way to go now and I obviously don't trust the plumbers and manufacturer now. Any advice on a direction?[/quote]

Please furnish me with the link that tells you aluminum anode rods can be poisonous? I've been replacing mag rods with aluminum ones for years with no problems.
In some cases bacteria will interact with a magnesium rod to produce a rotton egg smell. If you put the same kind of rod back the problem will still be there, if you remove it then your tank will pick up the corrosion that the anode rod's there to collect. If it's a mag rod have then replace it with a aluminum anode rod. Also, to clear the tank of the smell and any bacteria you should load the tank up with chlorine, or bleach. Let it run through the pipes and then clean the screens on the areators. Your plumber should have informed you of all this. Too many plumbers now days just want to get the job done and boogie out of there Good luck, Tom

Thanks for your input! I will try to locate the sources of the "bad aluminum" information and send to you. I have been researching this for a long time and have lost track of some of the sources.

Unfortunately, I am at the mercy of other people on this because I don't know much about plumbing (obviously). I have not had much luck in finding a reliable (or competent) plumber in my area. I just can't believe that not one person I've contacted would give me this helpful advice or information! Maybe I am just being niave, but I think people in the service industry should actually offer helpful information to their paying customers! I will try to find someone to replace the magnesium rod with an aluminum rod. Or perhaps I'll figure out how to do it myself! Hopefully that will take care of the smell. I just don't understand why I didn't have this problem with the original water heater. It was the same brand and type. The manufacturer uses magnesium rods in all there products (at least that is what I was told). Thanks again.

I agree, it's a mystery why this heater smells and your last one didn't but that's not the point anymore. Now we need to get you back in business without stinky water to contend with. Changing a anode rod's a simple operation and can be done by any homeowner. Turn off the water and the power to the heater. The anode rod's located under the large hex nut on top of the heater. Just unscrew the hex nut, pull the old rod , wrap the new aluminum rod nuts thread with Teflon Tape and reinstall. I would also flush the tank with bleach, run the bleach water through your hot water lines and clean the screens on all the aerators. Good luck, Tom

LakeOzarksGal,

Excluding all the plumber visits and new water heater, your problem sounds like the one I'm fighting. After replacing the old anode rod (which had dissolved down to bare wire) I got an increasing sulfur smell from the hot water and tried just about everything to eliminate it -- different rods, cleaning aerators, flushing with bleach. The smell always returned. When I use a "plug" (made by cutting off the "rod") instead of an anode rod there's no smell. When I put in an anode rod -- regardless of whether it's aluminum or magnesium -- the smell is back within a week.

I've come to the conclusion that my problem is Desulfovibrio -- a sulfur-producing plant that seems to like to colonize my water heater. I've investigated a variety of solutions and learned that UV-filtering the water won't help because I'm fighting a plant rather than a bacteria. Chlorine-pellet systems will work but I don't really want to be continually dropping chlorine into my well for years to come. I'm now studying inline water heaters under the belief that this is the only viable solution that excludes chemicals.

In the meantime, every two weeks (or so) I drain about 2 gallons from the bottom of my (50 gallon) water heater, pull the anode rod and pour in two cups of bleach. I then "pull" hot water to each faucet in the house. The bleach smells lasts for one or two showers; I can tell it's time to run through it again when I start getting bursts of "air" from the hot water -- the smell is back about 2 days later. (This procedure is a pain but it's gotten a lot easier since I bought a 1-1/16 wrench. I've kept it up for about 2 months because I'm also monitoring the calcium buildup on my anode rod -- I scrape it clean before re-inserting and "bump up" my water softener every other time. Once I get the softener right I'll be ready to stop playing with the bleach.)

Recommendations that I haven't yet tried include raising the water heater temperature and putting a curved water inlet into the heater. ("Stirring" the water supposedly makes it unattractive to Desulfovibrio.) Since my water heater is probably about 13 years old, I'm reluctant to put a lot of effort into it since a replacement is not likely too far away.

At 13 years your water heater is way past its prime, (as aren't we all) but for what it's worth. Remove existing anode rod. Drain out 2 quarts of water from water heater. Add 2 pints of 3% hydrogen peroxide (available at drug stores) through anode rod hole. Install an aluminum zinc rod. Pressurize water heater and let stand 20-30 minutes. Then open all of the hot taps individually until warm water comes out of the tap. Just a thought. Tom

Check it out. These guys sell anode rods that combat the smelly water (Al, Zn and Tin)....they even have a flexible anode rod....cool


http://www.plumbingstore.com/anoderods.html

Got one. Got it from them. It's the one in the water heater right now. Doesn't stop the Desulfovibrio from growing a new colony every 2 weeks. They like the PH of my soil and the high iron-content in the water so once they get the right temperature they are very happy.

I've read that some people have issues with Desulfovibrio causing odors in the old water but that's NOT a problem for me. And if I keep an opne bucket of warm water around there's no problem -- because these plants don't like an oxygen-rich environment. I've looked into hooking up a bubbler (the treatment of choice for people with cold-water Desulfovibrio issues) but it's much more complicated than switching to an inline water heater when I replace my old one.

The treatment you're discribing is called aeration and we use it down here to treat smelly sulfur water from wells. There's a product on the market called Gramicid and it's a Biocide. Here's what the manufacture has to say about it,

Gramicid possesses a very broad spectrum of biocidal activity.
It is highly effective on :-

Bacteria like species of Escherichia Coli, Micobacterium tuberculae, Klebsiella Pneumoniae, Enterobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, Pseudomonas, Achromobacter, Bacillus, Legionella, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Diplococcus, Clostridium, Vibrio, Meningococci, Corynebacetrium, DESULFAVIBRIO, Proteus Mirabilis and spores.

Ligeonella Pneumophila.

Bacillus Anthracis

Yeasts & Fungi like species of saccharomyces, Candida, Penicillium, Asperigillus, Rhizopus, Mucor, Cladosporium etc.

Virus like AIDS (HIV), Herpes, Hepatitis-B, Infantile Paralysis (Polio), Bateriophages, Influenza, Newcastle's Disease, Vaccine-Viruses, FMDV (Cattle Virus)

Poultry Virus :- NDV, IBDV, IBHV etc.

Blue-Green Algae and Green Algae.

Protozoa like Entamoeba Histolytica.

The Larvaecidal effect of Gramicid will help in mosquito control and hence vector control.

Its acts as a powerful Deodorant.



I wish to thank adlowe for pointing out a alternative cause for smelly water.
Perhaps it's nolt your anode rod after all. Thanks adlowe! Tom

Monday was "treatment day" and I tried the peroxide instead of the bleach. Worked fine and is MUCH better han dealing with the bleach smell in the shower. The real test is whether or not it keeps the colony away for 2 weeks -- the limit when using 2 cups of bleach. I'll post results for anyone following this thread.

Next step is studying Gramicid. Thanks for the info, Tom. Who distributes it in the United States?