I lived in a brand new home, on city water for one year and everything was fine. We moved out and the house is now empty and up for sale. It has been empty for five months. Sometime during these five months a rotten egg smell has developed when the water is turned on. At first we thought it was the water evaporating out of the traps, and we would periodically run all faucets, flush toilets, run baths, etc. But the odor is definitely from the water. We went to the local water company and they said that 99% of the time something like this is from a faulty hot water heater. The hot water heater is only 1 year old. And the odor exists with hot and cold water. Help! Does anyone have any suggestions?

Are you certain that the odor is from BOTH hot and cold, (draw a pan of each and let it set awhile). This could be a anode rod in the water heater but if that were so only the hot water would be affected. Otherwise, the water line could have bacterial growth in them. Do the pan thingy and get back to me. Regards, Tom