How do I get rid of odor in water

[mrad]

The last couple of times out we have noticed an odor when using our hot water. I am wondering if some of the antifreeze made it's way into the hot water heater, and after not draining it for a couple week period could be causing the odor?

Should I try to get some bleach in the hot water heater to kill the odor?

[mrad]

I let it soak in bleach last night, then drained and rinsed today. I'll keep my fingers crossed. We head out tomorrow. IF it still smells, I'll be off to find some vinergar

[PenMan]

fla-gypsy wrote:
Turn off the WH. Drain the tank and refill. Turn the WH back on and you will be good to go.

Might work but I doubt it. Did not work in my case. Tried sanitizing with bleach but ended up having to use the vinegar wash just like the owner's manual said.

[fla-gypsy]

Turn off the WH. Drain the tank and refill. Turn the WH back on and you will be good to go.

[whistlebritches]

These newer water heaters (and our RV is 9 years old) have a different lining that causes the water to smell like rotten eggs if you let it sit in there and don't use it. We always drain our hot water tank when we come home from a trip. The hot water heater in our 94 Snowbird didn't do that. We would flush out the anti-freeze in the spring and use it all summer and fall, never draining the hot water heater, and never had the odor problem.

[PenMan]

Clay L wrote:
It may be sulfur in the water. If so the following 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
sulfur."

This is what I ended up doing after using the bleach sanitizing treatment did not do anything about the odor. We had only used our own tap water to fill the tank as we mostly boondock and it does not have much sulfur in it but the smell was definitely like the rotten egg smell. Vinegar wash worked great.

[old_guy]

the smell comes from the type of water you are using. is it well water from your home or a city connection or a rv park supply. if any of the above have a high content of sulfur in the water, once you heat that water you will create a chemical reaction with the sulfur and you get the smell. only way to not get the smell is to use filters to get rid of the sulfur. most cities use the wind to rid the water of the sulfur. you will see bell towers on top of a water supply tank. what they do is shot the water to the top of the bell and air moving through the sides of the bell dissipate the sulfur from the water. that is one method and the cheapest so it is used a lot. your problem now is to get rid of the smell you have now so you need to buy a water heater clean out tool and follow the instructions on the clean out folder.

[BB_TX]

I just finished doing mine. For the 1st time in 7 yrs we had hot water odor.
I turned off elec and propane to the water heater. Opened faucet to run cool water thru it for about 5 minutes to cool it. Switched the water bypass switch. Pulled the anode rod (Surburban). Used a flush wand to flush out the tank. Poured some bleach in the anode rod hole using a piece of folded foil for a funnel. New anode rod in. Put the bypass switch back to normal to fill the tank. Opened each hot water faucet until I could smell chlorine, then closed. Let it set for a couple hours.
Bypassed water heater again. Pulled anode rod to drain tank. Flushed again with wand. Rod back in. Bypass back to normal to fill tank. Run each faucet until no chlorine odor.
No more hot water odor.

[Clay_L]

It may be sulfur in the water. If so the following 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
sulfur."

[ksg5000]

Smell is often associated with bacteria and sometimes anode rod (Suburban) ... if flushing or replacing anode rod doesn't work then consider adding a small amt of bleach (chlorine) to hot water tank (let sit for few hours to kill bacteria) then flush.

[Pipeman]

Empty your HW tank, flush it with a tank flusher/your white hose stuck in the drain opening and let er rip, when finished doing that pour some bleach, maybe 1/2 cup into tank via the drain port, if you can get that much in, close drain port, fill the tank from your fresh water connection, open your taps until you can smell the bleach and then shut them off. Let it stand for maybe a day, if you can do that. Drain the tank and then refill and hopefully that takes care of the smell. I had the same problem, used bleach and so far no smell and we're into a month and a half of traveling using different campgrounds(knocking on my head). Good luck.

[Artum_Snowbird]

I would suggest shutting off your hot water tank heater and cooling it. Then use the isolation valves to isolate it. Remove the drain plug, and then stand out of the way, and lift the safety valve. Water should shoot out of the tank.

Now what you need is a thinner hose that will fit into the tank through the drain plug opening, and spray water around in there from outside as it comes out through around your spray hose. This is attempting to get the pink from the tank.

After that, fill the tank up partially, and drive around a bit to slosh the tank, then drain plug again and let it all out.

After that, either one, or the other, or both, you might get to the point where you don't notice it.

[downtheroad]

Drain and flush the water heater tank.