SRotten egg smell

[CDNSENIOR]

I have been away from RV for 2 wks.I turned the water off while I was gone.Upon returning & turning the water back on there is a very strong smell of rotten eggs(sulpher).We are on city water so there should should be no odor.Can anyone tell me the cause & how do I get rid of it.Thank you George

[Old-Biscuit]

Hott Rod and smelly water...........Just one reason WH MFG. doesn't recommend use of aftermarket heat elements. Folks DON'T drain/flush WH Tank.

[diggs]

I agree. Check your batteries. Has happened to us and we mistook it for everything until we figured out it was the batteries and it was awful.

[RoyB]

I would also check the battery fluid levels... We get the rotten egg smell if the battery are being over-charged over time and boiling out the fluids... This happened to us before we changed out our older single output DC voltage type converter for the actually working smart mode converter/charger unit.

The older converters always produced only 13.6VDC which is known to do this to the batteries over time.

Roy Ken

[Shadow_Catcher]

I have a hot rod as well. I added Anderson PowerPoles to the leads to the hot rod so that it is easy to remove.

[naturist]

Bacterial growth in the hot water tank. Happens to everybody. Best course of action, leave the water heater off and run 20 or 30 gallons of cold water through it. Industrial strength (but just as temporary) cure, drain the water heater and entire fresh water system and sanitize with bleach as though new.

Usually, being on city water (i.e., chlorinated/disinfected water) forestalls this reaction, but it will always occur if you just wait long enough. Only reason you never have the issue at home is that the water never sits stagnant in the water heater for weeks.

[CDNSENIOR]

Thanks for the replies.It does sound like the hot water tank.I also have a hot rod installed so the advice is very helpful.

[n7bsn]

There are two sources of "the smell". 1) bad water with sulfur in it 2) bacteria.

Mostly it's #2.
When the hot-water tank is left of some time, the O2 using bacteria use up all the O2 and dies off.
Then, since the O2 is all gone, the anaerobic bacteria can get going and break down the sulfur compounds naturally in the water, freeing the sulfur.

The solution is either is flush out the tank. a treatment of chlorine doesn't hurt

[cj7365]

I get the same smell if I don't drain my hot water heater, and it sits for a couple of weeks, I cant really drain it because it has a hot rod in place where the drain plug is, so I open up the pressure valve on the water heater and close all other valves and pump air through the city water connections, I make sure the pressure regulator on my air compressor is only at 30 psi, this will force most of the water out of the water heater.

but first drain you water and run a bleach/water solution through your whole water system, facets etc..... let it sit overnight, then drain and rinse, and you will be good to go

[Old-Biscuit]

Stagnant water in Water Heater......anode rod reacting with microbes.....battery cell bad/overcharged