anpconnors

Last trip we had foul smelling hot water, and last night when we winterized it it smelled like rotten eggs. Any "common" causes, remedies? Suburban 6 gal DSI. The cold water was ok. Thanks!

new2ctd

What water are you speaking of?

dodgezilla04

he would be refering to the water coming from his water heater tank on an rv(trailer or motorhome).

i rinse mine out alot. in between trips, (if it is going to be a long time) i will pull the plug and drain it. there is a type of water system treatment/cleaner available for rv potable water systems.

RustyJC

First, have you replaced the anode rod recently? If not, I'd check it.

Rusty

new2ctd

I thought that's what it might be.

there are many remedies around, run a little chlorine bleach through it and let it sit for a couple hours, drain/rinse.

Then the chemical treatments. Hit Google and search *stinky rv water*
you will have hours of options.
Also try rv.net

I use the clorox method.

1-2-3

Yup. Anode Rod. You can make it last a lot longer by draining the wh after each trip.

gccappy

There was an article in trailer life a while ago on that subject. They said to drain the hot water tank, refill with viniger, slosh around for a while, drain the viniger. Repeat the process then refill with fresh water and drain a couple times. That is supposed to work.

Cappy

P.J

The Rotten Egg odor is commonly caused by Sulfur. Water high in iron other dissolved solids can also contain sulfur.

It is in both the hot and cold water, the hot water is just more noticeable.

I would recommend what was already recommend, without an annode the junk in the water will eat away the internals of your water heater.

AND I would also sanitize the entire system. You can check out www.rv.net for detailed instructions.

I add 1/4 cup of chlorine bleach for each 15 gallons of water the system holds. Fill it up, make sure the solution is run through all faucets, hot water heater, outside shower, etc. Let it sit for 3 hours, drain, RINSE, repeat if necessary.

If you still have a hint of bleach smell, you can add a teaspoon or so of vinegar before the next time you fill the fresh water tank, that'll knock it out. I just live with it as we don't drink the water anyway (bring bottled).

Jeff in TD

With mine, when I pull the anode rod to drain it each fall, there is always a bunch of scale and gunk sitting in the very bottom of the tank, below the opening.

I had been shoving my tank filler nozzle's hose in the anode rod opening (as it fits with a little gap) and spraying out the tank. Ejecting that scale build up I think helps keep the hot water smelling good.

Recently I bought a product called "tank saver" which is basically a wand with a bend on the end and a shut off at the handle, designed specifically to attach to a garden hose and spray the inside of a water tank out. The wand is smaller diameter and has a more focused spray, so it seems to do a better job.

Also, I've talked to people who turned on the water heater when the tank wasn't filled, and that caused a smell that would never go away...

1-2-3

Could you adapt the wand to a shop vac? Seems no matter what you do, you never get it all rinsed out.

Jeff in TD

I don't think this wand is big enough to use with a shop-vac, as I think it would just get blocked with chunks of scale. With a bit bigger diameter hose, though, I think that would work well.

When I put up in the fall, I do use my mity-vac pump to get the rest of the water out of the tank. By holding the pump below the tank, I only have to pump enough to get water started, then unhook the pump and let it siphon the rest out... That gets the rest of the water out, but doesn't do much about sediment.