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HELP...odd smell in shower

15 years ago

I've just noticed the last week or so, while showering i get an odd smell every once in a while. cant explain the smell well, maybe like a sulfer sort of. It is not constant just 2 or 3 times while showering. This is a bathtub shower, with sliding glass doors. Could it be the drain because the bathroom sink has a similar smell when it needs to be cleared when it drains slow. I sure hope this makes sense.

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Comments (5)

folkman
15 years ago
My two cents. I had a similar problem. If its sulfur like (rotten egg smell) it could be a new filter needs to be put in on the water coming INTO the house. I had a well and the smell was from the well water when it was not being treated. Needed to get a better filter system (one for sediment, one for smell) and the problem went away. Yours may be from the clogs but sulfur usually means its in the water to begin with. Do you smell it in the washing machine too?
wireman_nyc
Original Author
15 years ago
I dont have a filter to filter incoming water.I dont smell it at any other water source. It is similar to a smell from the bathroom sink drain when it starts to drain slow. But it is kind of hard for me to get my nose close enough to the shower drain to get a whiff. Plus the shower drain is not running slow. Any other suggestions....
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dedtired
15 years ago
I get the same odor from my bathroom sink drain, but only at first. It does not run slow either. I can't figure it out but I plan to pour some bleach down there to see if it helps. I get a stinky smell from the garbage disposal sometimes. I scrub out as much as I can reach and then run some lemons through the disposal.
mboston_gw
15 years ago
We have a third bathroom shower that is not used that much. When the U shape part of the drain line gets dry from no running through it, we get that rotten egg smell.
When we were using it weekly to bath the dogs we never had the smell. So I go in every few days and run the shower, dump some clorox clean up or baking soda down the drain and the smell disappears.
MongoCT
15 years ago
I'll throw an alternative out there...

If you have a tank-type water heater, and the smell seems more prevalent when the hot water is being run, it could be that the sacrificial anode in your tank has exceeded its useful lifetime, or that you need a different type of rod.

As to the smell being noticeable with water flowing from some taps and not others, that can happen depending on how some taps aerate the flow of the water differently than others.

Rods that contain magnesium can contribute to the smell, so for a replacement look for an Aluminum or an aluminum/tin/zinc rod, something along those lines.

If you have a bacteria build-up in the tank, sometimes you'll need to flush the tank, or give it a dose of bleach, let it sit, then flush the plumbing lines in your house.

You might get advice to simply remove the anode rod without replacing it. Realize that the anode rod is a sacrificial rod. It's there to be consumed so the tank itself does not get attacked by any sort of electrolytic reactions. If you remove it without replacing it, your tank could suffer a catastrophic failure down the road.

Mongo

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