Gas water heater for well water (rotten egg smell)

17 years ago

Hello! We just bought a house, and it has its own water well. The current water heater is the original 9-year old model (natural gas), installed by builder. According to our inspector, its bottom is rusted out, so we want to replace it. Now, the hot water has a strong rotten-egg smell, and lots of "white dust" in it. The smell happens in all faucets, but only when hot water is turned on.

My question is twofold:

First, how do we investigate the exact reason for the smell?

Second, how do we prevent the new hot water heater from developing the same problem? Are some brands/models more likely than others to have it?

I've seen some solutions, but little consensus. Many people say the smell is caused by bacteria, reacting (???) with the magnezium or aluminium anode rod.

Here are some suggestions I've seen:

- kill off bacteria using bleach

- kill off bacteria using hydrogene peroxide

- kill off bacteria by setting the heater to 170F for a few hours

- remove the anode rod

- replace the anode rod with aluminium

- replace the anode rod with aluminium/zink

- install a powered anode rod

Are there any models that _don't_ need any of this? I don't want to go tankless for several reasons. One possible solution is to switch to an electrical heater with a plastic tank - but it would double our hot water bill.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

Boris

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Comments (8)

User
17 years ago
It's not bacteria that react with the anode rods. It's more likely the naturally occurring sulfates that are in your water that become hydrogen sulfide gas in your water heater. It could be that you have the hydrogen sulfide in your water and the heat just causes it to exit the water to the air where you can smell it. If you have hydrogen sulfide in your cold water as well, that could be caused by bacteria. You need to get your water tested to know for sure. Take 1- liter samples of your cold and hot water to a local independent lab to determine sulfur, sulfates, hydrogen sulfide, iron, hardness, pH, TDS. Ask the lab how to collect the samples to ensure accurate results. Then you can determine your best course of action because you will knur where your problem is. If it is purely a hot water hubby the powered anode is probably a good solution. However, the most reliable solution will likely be to remove the sulfur compounds from your water. Switching to an electric water heater will not affect the problem at all.
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boris_123
Original Author
17 years ago
Thank you so much for the suggestion, I'll contact a water testing lab. We had a basic test done (basically, they tested for e coli bacteria and didn't find any), but nothing as involved as the one you're suggesting.
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kathyg_in_mi
17 years ago
Take out the anode rod. We had the same "rotten egg" problem and just removed it. Didn't buy the other rod to replace it and it worked just fine.
Kathy G in MI
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User
17 years ago
The anode is there for a reason. Simply removing it, while it may stop the rotten egg smell, will also cause your water heater to corrode and fail much faster than it should.
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michellenicole10
17 years ago
we had the same problem in an old house we bought, and the inspector sid it was because of a magnesium rod in the tank, they took it out and the smell was gone, it was a rental so i guess we didnt care if it failed sooner than it should s it was not our responsiblity to replace it, it was the companiew and i was happy to have the smell gone!
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hopesprings_gw
17 years ago
We bought a house on well water and had the same problem. After many discussions like yours (and considering removing the anode rod), we had the water tested and found very high iron and sulfur in our water. A device called The Iron Curtain filter installed between the well and the softener solved our problem completely. I highly recommend it.
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plumber1
17 years ago
I agree with aliceinwonderland the anode rod is there for a reason. I have removed many for customers and it does take care of the smell most of the time, but there is a serious problem with the well water that needs to be addressed. The water could be unsafe and you should have it tested by a profesional. sulfur, sulfates, hydrogen sulfide, iron, hardness, pH, TDS are all correct test to have done. Your local health dept. will also teat it for you.
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jennysjetta
17 years ago
We have city water and had the same problem when we moved into our house-- cold water was fine, hot water smelled like sulfur or rotten eggs. The water dept tested for water safety and other minerals and everything came out well within spec. Since no one else was having the problem it was pretty much narrowed down to something in the house.

We assumed it was the old oil fired hot water heater which wasn't working right to begin with. We got a new Buderus indirect hot water heater (which I *highly* recommend) that has a powered magnesium anode. As the installer said, it's better to replace that than the tank.

Anyway, the new hot water heater didn't immediately fix the problem. Heater installer recommended running the water very hot (150ish) for a few weeks and making sure it runs through all the faucets.

That did the trick. The smell gradually disappeared after about a month of normal use.

It could be a lot of things. That worked for us.
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Gas water heater for well water (rotten egg smell)

Comments (8)

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boris_123Original Author

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kathyg_in_mi

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boris_123
Original Author