Hi,

I posted this in the wrong section and so I am re-posting this.

I am hoping someone can help me with this. We purchased our home 2 years ago and every fall and winter, there is this terrible smell that is concentrated in one of our bedrooms during the morning hours. It starts at about 6 or 7 am and continues until about 9 or 10 am. The water heater is located in the garage, but it backs into the wall of this bedroom.

The water heater is old and the label on it says that it was manufactured in 1996. It keeps making noises, which we were told is sediment build up. The noises resemble popcorn kernels popping. We plan on replacing it for sure this coming Feb.

When the smell kicks in, it smells like raw sewage... like rotting eggs. Pretty gross. I had a plumber come out and do a smell test using this orange scent to make sure that the pipes weren't cracked and everything was fine. That's all he checked for. He said that the only thing he thinks it could be is something smelly is coming through the house vents and then leaving. We are at a loss as to what is causing this smell.

Is it possible that the water heater is causing this terrible smell?

Can anyone please offer any ideas on what can possibly be causing this?

Thank you so much!

When the plumbger did his "smell test" did he go up in the attic and check up there to see if he smelled sewer gas?

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The water heater is old and the label on it says that it was manufactured in 1996. It keeps making noises, which we were told is sediment build up. The noises resemble popcorn kernels popping. We plan on replacing it for sure this coming Feb

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You didn't say but I'll bet your water heater's gas instead of electric. The noise you hear is the result of years of inattention to maintenance. The previous owners neglected to flush the heater allowing minerals to build up on the floor of the boiler. When the fire comes on it generates steam under the coating of minerals. The steam escaping is what you hear. Did he check the fire for unburned gas (yellow flame)? This could very well be what you smell. In the summer smells raise with the heat but in the fall and winter they tend to settle down where they can be smelled. Some gas companies inject a rotten egg smell into odorless gas so you can smell a leak. Was this option ever explored? Hope this helps and thank you for rating my answer. Tom

In you water heater there is an anode rod that is suppose to protect the tank from attack by the water. There are times that the water attacking this rod does make a smelly odor that is the same gas as that of a rotten egg. This gas gathers in the top of the water heater and you can sometimes tell it first thing in the morning because the first faucet you turn on will spit and sputter at you, and it can have the odor that you talked about. You would not smell this odor otherwise because it is contained in the water heater.

There is one other posilibity, that being that you are on a water well and it has some sulfer content in the water, this odor also is the same as the rotten egg.

Speedball explained to you about the noises that you are hearing. The noise does not mean that you water heater is going to fail soon but does mean you are not getting the best efficiency out of your heater.

Speedball and Letmetellu, thank you so much for offering advice. I really appreciate it.

Speedball, to answer your questions, the plumber did go up in the attic and he said that he couldn't smell anything. He walked through the attic and said everything looked intact.

The plumber did not check the water heater at all. It is a gas heater. The previous owners hardly lived in this house. This house was built in 1999. The first owner was single and a traveling salesman. The other owners were an elderly couple that owned this house for 2 years and didn't live here because the wife said there was something in this house that was making her sick. It turns out she has this problem in other homes she's lived in and is very sensitive to the air particles.

We didn't know about how gas companies can inject a rotten egg smell. I will definitely give the gas company a call tomorrow.

So Tom, do you think the water heater is the culprit? If we replace it, will the smell go away?

Thank you again for your help with this!

You don't have to replace the water heater to get rid of the smell, if that is the culprit. You can replace the anode rod with a coated anode rod that will cease to put off the gas that causes the odor.
But I am not saying this it the problem, just one of the possibilities.

About the gas company injecting a roten egg smell, natural gas has no odor therefore it is dangerous because you can have a leak and not realize it, therefore the gas company but an odor into the gas main lines so that if you do have a leak you will notice the smell, it is normally a smell that is only associated with the odor of the doctored gas.

I don't think it's the anode rod. If it were you would be smelling it every time you turned on a hot water faicet, nor do I think that you have sulfur water as Letmetellu suggests. Then you would smell, it at all faucets plus the toilet bowl. So I guess we can discount both theories.
One of my theories were trashed when the plumber checked the attic vents for leaks.
This leaves the water heater. I'm not thinking gas leak here. If you had a gas leak you would have started your trip to the moon as soon as it exploded. I'm thinking unburnt gas (yellow flame) Let me repeat,

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Did the plumber check the fire for unburned gas (yellow flame)? This could very well be what you smell. In the summer smells raise with the heat but in the fall and winter they tend to settle down where they can be smelled. Some gas companies inject a rotten egg smell into odorless gas so you can smell a leak. Was this option ever explored?

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If that's the case a simple flame adjustment is called for. Not replacing the heater.
Let me know what you find and thank you for rating my answer. Tom