Smelly hot water

[Hobric]

New Airstreamers, just joined airforums, this is my first post ever on a forum.

Bought 2020 25'FCFB. Loving it so far and figuring out Airstream life. on most recent trip found hot water smells terrible. Bought in Jan20 and kept heat on through during freezing temps. Had not needed to use shower or hot water until now.

If anyone can point me to the likely issue that would be great.

[OTRA15]

Welcome to the forum!

Perhaps you could provide some details about your water practices since you bought the AS. You are in Virginia, so did you keep water in the system all winter, and use it at all? City water hooked up via hose, or water in the water tank? Was it actual "city water" (usually chlorinated) or well water?

Was there water in the water heater all winter, and was it kept warm? Was bleach added to the water for storage?

And so forth . . .

Or maybe the pipes were all drained and winterized? Bring us up to speed and it will be easier to give more accurate feedback.

You could also peruse this Water Heaters etc. forum for helpful topics:

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f445/

If you haven't done so already, please read your owner's manual on keeping the water safe.

Congratulations on the 25' -- we had that length ages ago and loved it.

Happy trails,

[Hans627]

Hello Hobric. First of all a big welcome to the forum! It's great to have you join us.

Secondly, glad to hear you have an AS. Now the fun begins.

The smelly hot water has happened to me with my first AS. It sat for several months with water in the tanks and, as most stagnant water does, it became pretty foul smelling. What I was instructed to do is to drain the fresh water tank, including the water heater tank, and refill them with water and clorox bleach. The bleach will kill all the bacteria. I've attached a PDF of how to sanitize the system.

After that I either make sure the water in my tank is city water (with chlorine) or with bleach added. I've never had the problem again after following the sanitization steps.

I hope this helps and best wishes!

[TheGreatleys]

Former Culligan man here. Most likely there are sulfides in the ground water where you filled up, which is very common in Virginia wells. The water heater anode rod reduces hydrosulfide to hydrogen sulfide, a gas which smells like rotten eggs or sewage. Since it's a gas, it tends to hit you in the face when you turn on the tap.

An old plumber's trick is to remove the anode rod from the water heater. But then your water heater is susceptible to corrosion.

Chlorinating water will oxidize any H2S. As long as there's a small chlorine residual at the tap (doesn't need to be so much that it smells like a pool) there will generally be no hydrogen sulfide odor.

Best practice is to add 1/8 tsp regular unscented chlorox bleach to your tank at each fill. That will kill any bacteria in your stored water, too, so your fresh tank and plumbing will stay clean.

Incidentally, iron tends to be present when sulfides are present. Adding chlorine to iron bearing water (even if filtered/clear) will cause it to drop out of solution in your tank, and stain your fixtures orange. Softening your water supply when you fill your tanks (prior to chlorination) will remove soluble iron in addition to hardness.

[TheGreatleys]

Originally Posted by TheGreatleys

Former Culligan man here. Most likely there are sulfides in the ground water where you filled up, which is very common in Virginia wells. The water heater anode rod reduces hydrosulfide to hydrogen sulfide, a gas which smells like rotten eggs or sewage. Since it's a gas, it tends to hit you in the face when you turn on the tap.

An old plumber's trick is to remove the anode rod from the water heater. But then your water heater is susceptible to corrosion.

Chlorinating water will oxidize any H2S. As long as there's a small chlorine residual at the tap (doesn't need to be so much that it smells like a pool) there will generally be no hydrogen sulfide odor.

Best practice is to add 1/8 tsp regular unscented chlorox bleach to your tank at each fill. That will kill any bacteria in your stored water, too, so your fresh tank and plumbing will stay clean.

Incidentally, iron tends to be present when sulfides are present. Adding chlorine to iron bearing water (even if filtered/clear) will cause it to drop out of solution in your tank, and stain your fixtures orange. Softening your water supply when you fill your tanks (prior to chlorination) will remove soluble iron in addition to hardness.

Sorry, that's 1/8 tsp bleach per gallon of water.

[OTRA15]

1/8 teaspoon bleach to one gallon of water may be fine for standard safety -- in a clean and already-disinfected water system, but I thought that a "shock treatment" with higher percentages of bleach were recommended for dirty systems, as this one appears to be:

https://www.google.com/search?q=blea...=airforums.com

You let this stronger bleach solution sit for 4 hours or so, and then flush it out with lots of clean sanitary water.

Good luck Hobric,

[MIFC]

Agree with the above for treatment. We drain the fresh and hot water tanks in between camping trips as it doesn’t take long for the smell to take hold in the hot water tank in particular.

[TG Twinkie]

Atwood aluminum water heaters do not have a sacrificial anode.
Suburban steel water heaters have the anode.

[TheGreatleys]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

1/8 teaspoon bleach to one gallon of water may be fine for standard safety -- in a clean and already-disinfected water system, but I thought that a "shock treatment" with higher percentages of bleach were recommended for dirty systems, as this one appears to be:

https://www.google.com/search?q=blea...=airforums.com

You let this stronger bleach solution sit for 4 hours or so, and then flush it out with lots of clean sanitary water.

Good luck Hobric,

You're correct, the shock treatment for removing biofilms is a much higher concentration. Though, if this is a hydrogen sulfide problem, shock treatment isn't necessary, just a small chlorine residual.

That said, doing both shock treatment then ongoing chlorination certainly won't hurt anything.