Rotten egg smell in water.

[scotty1946]

Recently went camping to find water had sulfur, rotten egg smell to it. Had odd taste. Rinse system, used soda but smell/taste is still there. Noticed that hot water side has a white foamy appearance. Haven't tried the bleach yet. Any suggestions on cause or cure?

[Bheffington]

I had a similar instance, bbut mine was just the hot side (no anode in the water heater) I drained the system. Added bleach to the fresh water holding tank and filled it. Used the pump to fill the water heater, and open all the faucets until you smell the bleach. Let the water heat up, then open a hot faucet and let it run until cold water comes out (turn of the water heater while doing this part) then turn the water heater back on, let it heat up and drain it again. I then ran the fresh tank (with bleach) through the faucets until it was empty. Hooked back up the water supply and havent had an issue since.

[Dannyabear1]

The rotten egg smell comes from the anode rod in the water heater; replace anode and flush out water heater.

[rockhillmanor]

Bite the bullet and bleach. I even let it run into the hot water tank too. It's being mixed/diluted again with the plain water already in there so it's not that strong. IMHO, JMHO it's really the only way to get the lines clean and the smell out quickly.

If the water was that bad it has coated your lines too depending on how long you stayed there. Cheap blue in-line water filter would have helped prevent that and a good portion of the smell too.

Good Luck.

[wildtoad]

If the smell and taste was on the cold side only thing to do is flush flush flush.

Had a similar experience during trip to Michigan last year. Learned to take fresh water along and test water before hooking up to RV if a new place.