Oooooooooooh, I'm so scared. However, if I start smoking cigarettes, WHO CARES about Alzheimers? http://www.forces.org/evidence/carol/carol16.htm

Often times, in the middle of a tricky diagnosis we make the cardinal mistake and forget RULE #1, which is go back to square one. Rule #2, never assume, gets lost quite a bit also in the heat of battle. Do you have this odor everytime you use the dishwasher? Since you have the odor problem only at the dishwasher, shocking the well and letting bleach sit in the lines for 24 hours apparently is not the solution. Perhaps because the bleached water is not getting into the dishwasher. Disinfecting the specific line and fittings from the kitchen sink hot water supply to the dishwasher and the dishwasher internals is more specific and in keeping with your symptoms. Assuming that an 8" rise in the dishwasher drain is adequate is NOT the same as a code required airgap. If you want to resolve this problem then you have to be smarter than the pros. Go step by step with no short cuts and don't assume anything. Get a clean water sample from the well, a clean water sample from the hot water line at the kitchen sink, and a clean water sample from where the hot water line goes into the dishwasher. It would be wise to take a sample from the dishwasher drain while you smell the odor. Take the samples to a certified lab and for testing. If you can't find a certified lab then this link will help... http://www.epa.gov/safewater/labs/index.html The tests may tell you what you're looking for. The problem you're having is frustrating and annoying, right up there with an intermittent electrical problem and can be a real pain to find BUT, it can be found and remedied and you're not paying us to not fix it.

Found good info and thought i would paste here. The i have a continues TDS on my RO input and output and my output is currently around 40 PPM. The Output feeds my Ice-maker and my Instant hot through copper pipes.... I was worried about corrosion and possible leaks and the below paste makes me feel better! Question: Will putting a whole-house reverse osmosis (RO) system on a house with copper pipe cause leaks? aquacareservice@embarqmail.com Answer: Will putting a whole-house reverse osmosis (RO) system on a house with copper pipe cause leaks? aquacareservice@embarqmail.com The simple answer to your question is yes. Copper plumbing that is exposed to RO water will cause pitting; however, the question begs for a more thorough explanation of whole-house RO. To begin with, when most people hear the term RO, they think of water that has had the mineral salts reduced by 99 percent. While this is good for life support water, this is not practical for domestic,whole-house, working water. It is good to keep in mind that the water for this type of application should have a finish TDS of 50-100 ppm. The product water off the membrane should pass through a small column of calcite or equivalent product, or it can be treated with soda ash to neutralize the acidic nature of the water to a less corrosive state. Bear in mind that these products must meet the NSF standard for food service. In addition to neutralizing the acid, calcite will add calcium carbonate to the water. If the water being treated by the RO still contains hardness, then an acid feed is generally needed to drop the pH to increase the solubility of the hardness. This will allow the membrane to reject high levels of hardness while preventing scaling. Therefore, passing the water through a softener to remove any remaining hardness is a very efficient way to provide the kind of working water that most homeowners would like in the first place. Gary Battenberg, Technical Director, Hague Quality Water International As a rule of thumb, if the TDS (total dissolved solids) concentration of the RO water is above 10 ppm (almost all is >10), it should not be aggressive enough to dissolve copper and cause leaks.

Is pex really that old? I find that hard to believe, considering Bakelite wasn't invented until round 1908, and PVC wasn't produced as a practical substance til 1920 and was not used en masse til after WW2. My big issues with plastics are leaching, (Canada has just banned polycarbonate from being used in drinking vessels, and Polycarb was considered a wonderful inert material - it is very useful but definitely does impart a taste to water) and the ageing process. Plastics inevitably become more brittle over time. All of them do. If pex was inadvertently exposed to UV (let's say a chink in a wall or something allowing exposure to outside light, not impossible in areas where insulation isn't that common) it would deteriorate and fail rapidly. They are still unknown quantities in the long term - time will tell. Remember "Alkathene?" - Polyethylene? Still used in agriculture and perhaps in outside supply lines, but I bet they don't use it inside houses any more (I helped build a house in the '70s in New Zealand that did) I like copper. It's not perfect but I'm getting pretty good at soldering it. Speaking of right angles, I have probably slowed my own water velocity down a fair bit whilst replumbing my hot water, adding an expansion tank and provision for a water filter, but it all seems to work well. Certainly it does not have the pedigree of copper and may be preferable in some situations of aggressive water (although the fittings/joiners etc are metal and still susceptible) - I suspect they would lower a resale value or certainly not enhance it.