Sulfur smell

From your hot water heater? Electrode inside heater gves off that odor. Replace it.

And rinse out tank

I ran vinegar though our water system and let it soak for a few days and then rinsed it out including the water heater. Just because we winter in Arizona not because of smell. I did help a couple clean out their water heater for the sulfur smell and it fixed the problem.
chevman

IMO, there are two common sources of the sulfur smell, neither is the "electrode" (which doesn't exist...I think the poster meant sacrificial anode)

The most commons source is you left water in your tank for an extended amount of time, this water had both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. If water is left for an extended time, undisturbed. All of the O2 is used up and the anaerobic bacteria can then start working, as they live/grow they release SO2 (sulfur-dioxide).

The other is less common, but happens most often in areas like Texas. There is natural SO2 in the water and you are smelling this.

The solution to either is flush the tank. I would also clean the tank with a small amount of Chlorine bleach to reduce the amount of bacteria in the tank

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another link

Buy a new fresh water hose. Don't fill your tank with a garden type hose, use only one for potable water. Flush your holding tank with a little bit of bleach. I had a sulfer smell and doing this got rid of it.

Had that problem in a Jayco park model a couple years ago. Drained the HW heater and refilled it with a cup of bleach added. Let it set for a few hours. Repeated it. End of problem. Was a brand new heater from Lowes(20 gal) The owners manual said it was a chemical reaction with the anode, and there were 2 types of anodes(magnesium & don't remember what the second one was) If I replaced what came with it with the other type it would eliminate the problem-but no one knew what kind was shipped with the heater. Hence the bleach. Gary

there's another thread open on this under "general" also a number of them in history. Lot's of ideas and advise to follow.

Sounds like you have sulfated water which is caused by sulfur in the water SOURCE. This is sometimes also referred to as "onion water". If you always fill from a municipal water system that does not contain a lot of sulfur you SHOULD not get Sulfated water. If you DO end up with the problem, all it takes is to drain, flush and sanitize your water system to get rid of it. Of course after sanitizing you'd still need some more flushing to get rid of the bleach odor and taste.

It doesn't have anything to do with anode rod or length of time the water is left in the system, it's in the water SOURCE and builds up over time.

Three basic types of anode rods.....

Aluminum
Magnesium
Zinc

Aluminum lasts longer, doesn't attract bacteria BUT can collect deposits that make removal difficult

Magnesium provides stronger 'current' attraction so they don't last as long and can attract bacteria that produces sulfur smell

Zinc......commercial use. Very effective but very short life span

Some aluminum/zinc mixture rods available but hard to find.

Routine draining/flushing of water heater tank helps.
Changing from magnesium to aluminum will help
Vinegar soak will clean up inside of tank/system

All depends on make up of source water.


Don't forget.......
Sulfur smells can also be battery overcharging