BAD smell in water

[bobpam54]

hi all you good people
I have kitchen sink ,bathroom sink and sink in the bedroom. The sink in the bedroom has very bad smell in the water and no other place in the motor home is the water bad

How can this be. It's a closed system. Any ideas on this
thank you
Bob

[colliehauler]

GordonThree wrote:

Lynnmor wrote:
Drain and flush the water heater. Replace the anode rod if there is one.

^^ This!

There's a bacteria that lives on the anode rod material.

If your rod is in rough shape, throw it out, sanitize the HWH and install a new one.

If it's still in good shape, throw it in the oven for an hour at 350F, or wrap in foil and toss in the camp fire. Brush it off when cool, sanitize the HWH and reinstall.

X-3

[DiskDoctr]

Good call guys!

A tip on rinsing the bleach out of the system. Allowing the water to SIT does more to get rid of the bleach and smell than rinsing.

It's also a good idea to take a short drive so it splashes around in the tanks. Be sure to run each water point of use until you smell the bleach.

Let it sit about 4 hours, then rinse thoroughly and refill and let it site another 4hrs min (or overnight) and repeat.

I wouldn't let full strength sit in the lines overnight, pretty hard on the valves.

If you try to rinse without letting it sit for a while, it can be done...just takes about 83,243 gallons! LOL.

[bobpam54]

I think that old biscuit and clay L has hit the nail on the head. Thanks to all for your help. This forum is great. Bob

[westend]

Good deal! Let the bleach sit in the pipes for awhile. Overnight is ideal. Organic material in the plumbing is killed by the amines of bleach and that takes awhile to develop when mixed with the water. If there is unacceptable bleach odor when done, flush with dilute hydrogen peroxide.

Good luck!

[bobpam54]

The anode was completely gone. Just the skinny rod left. Got new anode put in and now I am letting the bleach do its thing. Thanks

[Clay_L]

If the water only smells bad in the bathroom I doubt if its the water. As stated above the sink drain system could very easily be the problem. There is a air admittance valve on a stub off the sewer side of the drain trap. If faulty it won't seal properly and allows odor from the gray tank to escape.

[Old-Biscuit]

Remove bedroom sink drain 'P' trap and clean it along with the drain pipe

[GordonThree]

Lynnmor wrote:
Drain and flush the water heater. Replace the anode rod if there is one.

^^ This!

There's a bacteria that lives on the anode rod material.

If your rod is in rough shape, throw it out, sanitize the HWH and install a new one.

If it's still in good shape, throw it in the oven for an hour at 350F, or wrap in foil and toss in the camp fire. Brush it off when cool, sanitize the HWH and reinstall.

[bobpam54]

Thank you guys. I feel good about what I have done so far. It is good to sanitize. It sure does make me feel better. I think that what you guys recommended is going to work. Thanks

[ksg5000]

There a lots of threads on how to sanitize your system - use the forum search feature. Many of us sanitize our system each year when we get the rig ready for camping season.

[MFL]

You could, but best to use the fresh water tank, so entire system is sanitized.

About 1/4 cup of bleach for each 15 gals of water.

Jerry

[bobpam54]

Ok guys. Thank you. What you say makes sense. I will do all of that stuff. We have determined that it is the water. How much bleach should I use. Couldn't I use my injection system for winterizing my rig for the sanitizing.

[Lynnmor]

Drain and flush the water heater. Replace the anode rod if there is one. Then sanitize with bleach. Retest making sure that the odor you smell is coming from the water, not from the nearby drain system.

[westend]

It's possible that you have a localized fungus or bacteria issue in the supply piping. You could try sanitizing the supply lines with some bleach to see if it eliminates the odor.