[wendthalllinda]

My water heater is giving off an bad oder how do I get rid of it?

[speedball1]

{From: http://www.smellywater.com/ ©Copyright 1995-2009 by Randy Schuyler}

Smelly hot water. Rotten egg odor. Black water. Discolored laundry. Is your water heater cursed? And yeah, it's a situation that stinks.

But you don't have to suffer. You've come to the right place. We can tell you what causes it, and how to remove the curse of smelly water.


The cause of rotten egg odor
The most common cause of smelly water is anaerobic bacteria that exist in some water and react with the magnesium and aluminum sacrificial anodes that come with most water heaters to produce hydrogen sulfide gas, making the classic rotten egg odor. The problem is most common in well systems, either private or municipal.

Softening can make smelly water much worse.


What not to do to get rid of smelly water
We've heard of plumbers or handymen advising people to remove the sacrificial anodes from their water heaters as a solution to smelly water. It's a solution all right, but one that will ensure your water heater rusts out in record time. There is a reason why removing an anode voids the warranty.

Additionally, people have been told to replace a magnesium anode with an aluminum one. Don't. Aluminum causes just as many rotten eggs as magnesium.


This won't fix stinky water forever, but it's a start
Cheap, simple, effective, but not forever. Shut off the cold water valve to your water heater, open a hot faucet somewhere in your house to relieve pressure, drain some water from the tank, open the plumbing on one side, and dump in a few pints of hydrogen peroxide. Close everything up, turn on the cold water again, and let some water run from all spigots and taps. You should be odor-free until the next time you go out of town and allow the water heater to sit, unused. Then you'll have the problem again. For details on this procedure, go to Know-how.

By the way: use peroxide, not chlorine bleach. Either will work, but peroxide is much safer.

One caveat: if you have smelly water at one sink, but not all of them, dump the peroxide down the basin overflow, instead of into the water heater. Sometimes bacteria can build up in there, too.


The complete fix, in most cases...
Very often, replacing the standard magnesium or aluminum anode rod with an aluminum/zinc alloy anode will solve the problem. The zinc is a key ingredient, since pure aluminum anodes will also reek to high heaven.

For most folks, an aluminum/zinc anode is the cheapest fix for this problem and we urge you to try it first before considering the alternatives. Unless you soften your water. More on that in a moment.

Some longer-warranty tanks come with two anodes. We think you should replace only one and remove the other. Two may worsen the odor.

These anodes come in four flavors: standard hex-head, flexible hex-head, standard combo, flexible combo.


Those terms, doubtless, mean nothing to you, but they're important if you're to choose the right anode.

The photo at right shows hex and combo anodes. The latter is also called an outlet anode.

Hex-heads go in their own hole on top of the water heater. In most cases, you'll be able to see the hex head. If you can't, the anode is either hidden under the sheetmetal or your tank has a combo anode.

Combo anodes share the hot-water-outlet port. If you're not sure if there is an anode in there, run a long screwdriver down it. If there is an anode, the screwdriver won't go more than a few inches.

Some water heaters have two anodes. Not only is it important to put an aluminum/zinc anode into the heater; it's also important to remove all previous anodes or the hot water will still smell.

Standard hex-head anodes need 44 inches of overhead clearance. Standard combos need 48. Flexible anodes are standard ones that have been milled down to the steel core wire on a lathe. They can be bent and straightened about three times before the core wire snaps. They are good down to 12 inches overhead clearance.

... but, if you soften
We have had a few people buy an aluminum/zinc anode and the odor didn't go away. That's vexing for them and us. The cases involved water that was being softened. Softening can speed up anode consumption by increasing the conductivity of the water. That can increase the amount of hydrogen sulfide gas produced.

So we've started offering powered anode rods. A sacrificial anode creates an electrical reaction inside a water heater as it corrodes. A powered anode does the same by feeding electricity into the tank. Since there is no magnesium or aluminum, there's no smell. We don't recommend them for everybody, though, because they're several times more expensive than sacrificial anodes.

One more thing: There are several configurations of residential water heaters. Most have a hex-head anode in its own port somewhere on the top of the tank. A few do not. All of Bradford White's residential tanks and some of A.O. Smith's and State's employ a combo anode/hot-water outlet/nipple in the hot port. A powered anode can be used with those tanks by adding a brass tee to the hot port. The bottom port of the tee will connect to the tank; the plumbing to the house will go out the side port; the powered anode will screw into the top port with the element hanging down inside the tank.

How do you tell if it's hex or combo? It's a fair question because some heaters do have a hex anode but it's hidden under sheetmetal, or perhaps under a plastic plug in the top. Visit Know-how for strategies on uncovering hidden anodes. The acid test though, for a combo, is to disconnect the hot-side plumbing and run a long screwdriver into the nipple. If it stops in just a couple of inches, there is a combo anode there. It's worth doing this test even if your tank has a hex anode because if there is a standard anode anywhere in the water heater, you'll have rotten eggs, no matter what anode you employ elsewhere.

©Copyright 1995-2009 by Randy Schuyler

Hope this helps and thank you for rating this answer. Tom

[jlisenbe]

I had the same problem. Only the hotwater smelled. I turned off the heater, drained a little water with the cold water inlet valve off, removed the pressure relief valve, poured in a cup or two of bleach, replaced the PRV, waited a few hours, then turned everything back on and ran all the hot water taps until I could smell bleach. I waited another hour or two, then ran one tap for an hour or so until I could not smell bleach anymore. Problem is still solved and it's been about 3 months.