"Robert A. Barr" Not.for.@harvest wrote


Thanks for all the info.

I'm curious about one thing: The last time this happened, the anode
had
been depleted. I called a plumber, who replaced the rod. That solved
the
problem -- no more odor. In that case, it was REALLY strong, and
replacing
rod fixed the problem.

More likely the process used to replace the rod with a different type
fixed the problem. There's at least two parts involved that will.
Draining/flushing the tank and a different type rod. Also, water quality
changes over time (guaranteed) and in the beginning you may not have the
required sulfates and/or sulfate reducing bacteria present so there
could be no odor.

I've also read that using softened water will hasten the erosion
(consumption?) of the anode, requiring more frequent replacement. I'd
think, though, that a few months is too soon no matter what.

That's not true. First, many folks with no softener suffer the same
eaten up rod and odor problems.

Second, the vast majority of folks with softeners (millions), do not
have the odor problem.

But to prove softeners don't 'cause' the problem.... ask those that say
they do to prove how that happens.

The figure it out, you must look at the chemical analysis of the water.
A softener changes the water in two ways. One they remove certain things
from the water. Such as calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, lead,
copper, radium etc., all of which are not found in all waters and in
those that they are, the amounts vary widely. BUT, the lack of any of
them is not known to increase rod deterioration. Also, the TDS (total
dissolved solids) content of agreessive/corrosive water is low (= 7.0)
which causes an acidic water but... ion exchange softening adds (sodium)
to the water and actually increases TDS althouhg it removes those other
ions.

So wherever you heard that softeners increase rod deterioration needs to
be questioned as to the proof of their claim. I know certain heater web
sites mention softeners as a cause of heater odor and/or deterioration
but... facts be known, if their glass lining was intact all over the
inside of the tank when you install the heater, there would be (is no)
need for a rod.

In any event, I can try the bleach trick and hope for the best. I
have no
idea how I'd go about chlorinating the cold supply, though, and if
there's a
bacteria source upstream of the heater, well, is there any point in
chlorinating just the hot water?

I have a number of chlorination systems, I guess most could be used for
just the hot side but I've never seen it done. I also wouldn't propose
doing that. And then possibly the homeowner would want the chlorine
removed from the hot side. It would be much better and easier to to
treat the cold for both needs. Dealing with hot water filters etc. is
more expensive anyway.

Perhaps a different rod type would be a simpler approach. We'll see.

Aluminum is a choice. Another choice is to increase the temp of the
heater. And before some jump on the potential burn problems, they should
read up on the latest research done on Ligionnella bacteria deaths
attributed to water heaters set at or below 120 deg f. Just last night I
read of another study that shows very seroius statistics containing a
number of deaths.

Where softened water is
fed to certain hot water heaters, this condition has been overcome
by
removing the anode element from the heater.

That's somewhat misleading but okay as long as everyone understands that
removing the softener will not solve the problem because a softener
doesn't cause the problem in the first place; it's physically and
chemically impossible.

Gary
Quality Water Associates