I turned on the hot water in a house that had been empty for a while and got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the hot water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. any ideas?

On Feb 28, 7:40*pm, " wrote:
I turned on the hot water in a house that had been empty for a while and got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the hot water ran out. *No problem with cold water. *It came back after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. *any ideas?

Well water?

" wrote:

I turned on the hot water in a house that had been empty for a while and got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the hot water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. any ideas?


Read this:

http://www.mrwa.com/watersmellrotteneggs.htm

You can probably find aluminum anode rods for sale online; I did a few
years ago.

Just be sure you take into account 1) the possible difficulty in
removing the old rod -- impact wrench is very helpful -- and 2) the
overhead clearance -- an "articulated"/"sausage links" rod may be
needed.

" wrote:
I turned on the hot water in a house that had been empty for a while and
got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the
hot water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back after the
water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. any ideas?

You have to empty, cycle, empty. If kept hot it will be ok. Best to turn up
to 140 or so degrees, then back off. The aluminum rod should take care of
off times.

Greg

On Thursday, February 28, 2013 8:43:43 PM UTC-5, Red wrote:
On Feb 28, 7:40*pm, " wrote:

I turned on the hot water in a house that had been empty for a while and got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the hot water ran out. *No problem with cold water. *It came back after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. *any ideas?



Well water?

No, city water

On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:40:26 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

I turned on the hot water in a house that had been empty for a while and got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the hot water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. any ideas?

We had that problem with a couple of water heaters at work. Turns
out, it is a reaction between the magnesium anode and the water
chemistry. We put in aluminum anodes and the problem went away.

I had never heard of it, but it is a common problem in some areas.

On 2/28/2013 6:25 PM, gregz wrote:
wrote:
I turned on the hot water in a house that had been empty for a while and
got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the
hot water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back after the
water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. any ideas?

You have to empty, cycle, empty. If kept hot it will be ok. Best to turn up
to 140 or so degrees, then back off. The aluminum rod should take care of
off times.

Greg
Magnesium rod, not aluminum.

Paul

Paul Drahn wrote:
On 2/28/2013 6:25 PM, gregz wrote:
wrote:
I turned on the hot water in a house that had been empty for a while and
got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the
hot water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back after the
water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. any ideas?

You have to empty, cycle, empty. If kept hot it will be ok. Best to turn up
to 140 or so degrees, then back off. The aluminum rod should take care of
off times.

Greg
Magnesium rod, not aluminum.

Paul

Right, you use aluminum to keep the stink bacteria from forming. I got this
problem at camp, plus it's well water. I can also feed chlorine into system
from the hose connection. Also had orange water last spring when I filled
tank.

Greg

Here's the A. O. Smith Water Heaters, Product Literature, Technical Bulletins web page:

http://www.ho****er.com/resources/pr...cal-bulletins/

Read Technical Bulletin #22 entitled "Smelly Water" by double clicking on it and waiting for the PDF file to load.

In article ,
says...

I turned on the hot water in a house that had been empty for a while
and got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min
till the hot water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back
after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water
heater. any ideas?

Try turning on each hot water valve to let any trapped air out. That
includes any washing machine connections, showers, etc.

On Friday, March 1, 2013 8:10:40 AM UTC-5, Bill wrote:
In article ,


I imagine the anode can sometimes be the problem but the ones I've checked personally have not been anode related.

They have fallen into two categories:

bacteria living in the hot water heater, which are fixed by shocking it with chlorine (bleach) once, then keeping the water temperature hot enough,

and,

bacteria living in the drain. When you run hot water the drain smell comes up and seems to be from the water supply, but it's wrong. I've seen this one misdiagnosed multiple times. A cup of bleach down the drain cures this one. It does tend to recur occasionally but the fix is easy.

I would try both of these before I even considered changing anodes.

On Thursday, February 28, 2013 8:40:26 PM UTC-5, wrote:
I turned on the hot water in a house that had been empty for a while and got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the hot water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. any ideas?

It is definitely the anode rod in the water heater. Depending on the age of the heater ex. over 12 years old it may be better to replace the heater. Putting $ in a heater over 10 years old doesn't make sense as it could go bad at any time and a new one would be more energy efficient. Hope this helps..