foul odor

Lynnmor wrote:

midnightsadie wrote:
strange it worked for me. didn,t no we had so meny EX PERTS on here.

Removing the anode will work for awhile and maybe even for the life of the RV depending on luck or the water being used. For the rest of us, we want to take care of our possessions.

You have to be an EX PERT to treat your possesions properly, so we must be the EX PERTS. :B

Atwood does not use an anode rod because the tank is aluminum and a rod is not necessary.

The following procedure for smelly water is from the Atwood manual.

"1. Turn off your main water supply. Drain your water
heater tank. Reinstall drain plug. Remove the
pressure-temperature relief valve. With a funnel
use 4 parts white vinegar to two parts water. (In a
6 gallon tank that would be 4 gallons vinegar to 2
gallons water).
2. Cycle the water heater, letting it run under normal
operation 4-5 times. At no time do you remove the
vinegar from the tank Once this has been
completed, remove the drain plug and drain the
water heater.
3. After thoroughly draining the tank, to remove the
sediment, flush the water heater.
If you elect to use air pressure, it may be applied
either through the inlet or outlet on the rear of the
tank or applied through the pressure-temperature
relief valve. Remove the pressure-temperature
relief valve and insert your air pressure through
the pressure-temperature relief valve coupling. In
either case, with the drain valve open, the air
pressure will force the remaining water out of the
unit.
If air pressure is unavailable, your unit can be
flushed with fresh water. Fresh water should be
pumped into the tank either with the onboard
pump or external water pressure. External
pressure may be hosed into the unit either
through the inlet or outlet found on the rear of the
tank or the pressure-temperature relief valve
coupling located on the front of the unit.
Continue this flushing process for approximately
five minutes allowing ample time for the fresh
water to agitate the stagnant water on the
bottom of the tank and forcing the deposits
through the drain opening.
4. Upon completion of the steps above, replace the
drain plug and the pressure-temperature relief
valve.
5. Refill tank with fresh water that contains no
sulphur."

Drain, treat the plumbing, and make sure you have a good aluminum anode rod.

About the oil filter and scheduled replacement: Have you guys seen the toilet paper filter--Frantz TP filter. A study done stated the filter is good for 100K miles.

midnightsadie wrote:
strange it worked for me. didn,t no we had so meny EX PERTS on here.

Don't take offense, take the correction and protect your RV.

I know I've gotten quite a bit of good advice here, sometimes after the explanations I even felt embarrassed at what I was doing or considering, LOL.

Been there, done that, got the tee shirt. Happy Easter!

midnightsadie wrote:
strange it worked for me. didn,t no we had so meny EX PERTS on here.

Let me ask you......
If it is so unnecessary, why did Suburban choose to use one and Atwood did not? Its not a marketing ploy, its not for big profits in aftermarket sales. So why in your opinion is it unnecesary?

midnightsadie wrote:
strange it worked for me. didn,t no we had so meny EX PERTS on here.

Removing the anode will work for awhile and maybe even for the life of the RV depending on luck or the water being used. For the rest of us, we want to take care of our possessions.

strange it worked for me. didn,t no we had so meny EX PERTS on here.

midnightsadie wrote:
I pulled the anode rod and threw it away, I drain my water after every trip , my rv is a 2007 and never a problem.

Got tired of my oil filter getting dirty, so I removed it and put in a bypass hose. Drained my oil every month. No problems since.:S Doug

Boon Docker wrote:
Sanitize the water heater with bleach or hydrogen peroxide then replace the anode rod with an aluminum or aluminum/zinc alloy rod instead of manganese.

THIS ^^^^^^^^^^

Removal of the anode rod has nothing to do with sulfur smell. That comes from anaerobic bacterial growth in the water, not from city water chemicals.

To get rid of it, you should drain the hot water tank, then dump a bottle of hydrogen peroxide into a hose, connected to any potable water source, then refill the hot water tank and all the water lines. Let it set overnight, and in the morning, flush the system out. You can certainly do this with bleach, too, but I prefer peroxide as it is easier to flush out the system than bleach.