My daughter and SIL bought newly remodeled house and the hot water has a faint sulfur smell. The house was 50 years old and was gutted with new plumbing. They think that it is because bacteria interacts with a magnesium anode in the water heater and makes sulfur. They said you should replace the anode everything 3 years and use zinc to avoid the sulfur problem. Does this sound right? I have never replaced a water heater anode.
Sulfur smell from hot waer heater?
- Thread starter Burt
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It could also be caused by the water itself, having the sulfur minerals in the water.
Have the water tested.
But you're right, the anode rod can also be replaced if the smell is only coming from the hot water feed.
Have the water tested.
But you're right, the anode rod can also be replaced if the smell is only coming from the hot water feed.
I have it in mine from time to time. I understand it's normal: http://www.bradfordwhite.com/hydrogen-sulfide-odor-and-chlorinating-water-heaters-109
There's a site out there called waterheaterrescue that goes into details about anode rods and sulfur smell. If the house has been sitting for a while it seems like you might be able to fix the smell by putting in hydrogen peroxide in the tank and the anode rod might be ok. Their rods are really expensive though. I've changed out rods before, but the worse part is actually undoing the rod, after so many years, the rod doesn't budge, had to use a 3' iron pipe on a 1/2 inch breaker bar before they would move.
A friend of mine has this issue and he was told (for his situation) that he needs to shock the well with chlorine bleach every few months.
It wasn't clear from the discussion with him that this was a bacteria issue or the bleach was used to precipitate out some sort of sulphur compound.
It is Sunday; I don't want to spend 2 hours balancing equations.
It wasn't clear from the discussion with him that this was a bacteria issue or the bleach was used to precipitate out some sort of sulphur compound.
It is Sunday; I don't want to spend 2 hours balancing equations.
Send a water sample to Blackstone, ha!
Yep he is right. You will be surprised what the old rod will look like, if it is still intact. Get a new rod.
I had this problem. IMHO, it was triggered by low water usage thru the water heater and possibly the original anode. Installed the new type of anode supposed to be resistant to this problem, and strongly chlorinated the water heater internally twice, and that seemed to solve the problem.
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