Water odor

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If I let water stand in the water heater tank for a couple of weeks I have a very strong sulphur smell when we turn on the hot water.

Running water through the tank will flush out the bad water,but sometimes I forget to flush it before we leave on a trip.

The anode is almost new and the smell did not appear till after the anode was replaced and the tank flushed out.

Suggestions or solutions welcomed.:o

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Have you tried running a little Clorox through there? I read somewhere where it is a good idea to do that once or twice a year..

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Hi Nick!

Hey, it's possible you picked up some bad water along your route and something started growing in your water lines.

This happened to us on a trip to Canada ... and even draining the water heater didn't kill the smell/taste.

PLEASE NOTE: Some people claim when they do the following, they continue to smell/taste the bleach ... we never do ... and those who say they can taste the bleach add a little baking soda to the last fresh water tank.

(I can never remember whether it's baking soda or power, so thanks to Mary for straightening me out. I just usually tell Pam, hey, give me some of that stuff to dump in the fresh water tank and she gets it! Camco also makes a water freshener which we occasionally buy at Bubba's or Walmart)

Anyway, if you are willing ... here's the procedure:

Fill your fresh water tank half full, pour in a 1/3 cup of bleach, then fill the fresh water tank the rest of the way. Jiggle or drive the trailer around a little to mix the bleach water ... run through both cold and hot water, including your shower hose and fixture ... until you smell the bleach coming out both hot/cold faucets.

I let it sit overnight. Then drain the entire fresh water tank, fill and rinse the fresh water tank a couple of times (via tank drain), then pull fresh water through the system until you can't smell or taste the bleach. Make sure you pull fresh water through all the water lines, clearing out the bleach water.

That should do it ...

Technically you should do this atleast once a year ... particularly if you consume the water out of your tank. Pam and I carry gallon jugs of spring water for coffee, tea, etc.

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I *know exactly* what you're talking about!

Had that same problem once.. but not in an RV, but in a commercial space I rented for biz. (Who *really* checks to see if the hot water works/doesn't stink when you're just looking for a place to rent? GEEEZ!:bh )

Anyway, we had to pitch that water heater! I was told that stink was a ''bloom''. :xx That's a really pretty way to say you got cooties growing in there. Yuck. Bleach should probably kill it.. but think of what is probably still sticking to the insides of that thing! Eeeeewwww again. Then think of your cold water going thru the same pipes as where the cooties have been! I couldn't face a glass of water out of that system ever again. (JMO)

For my RVs, I got several rules about water/sewer system:

1. No well water goes into my fresh tank - only chlorinated city water. As a last resort - if no chlorinated city water available - then I would add those chlorine tablets (that are meant for this purpose) to the water supply.

2. No yucky hoses come in contact with my fresh water fill either. My hose or no hose! I only get the white hoses that are meant for sanitary water fills. That white hose gets used for NOTHING else. It gets bleached at the beginning and end of the season too.

3. No consuming water from the fresh tank anyway (call me paranoid! but not worth ever getting sick over, IMO). I carry a three gallon jug for fresh water for cooking and drinking. Living in Colorado gets one hooked on bottled water anyway.. most of our water *isn't* good tasting. If you got good well water at home that you like, then it's probably a good thing to consume it when you're gone for a week or weekend instead of drinking God-knows-what at a campground. Even if water meets sanitary standards, it might still make you sick if you're a sensitive type. :sick

4. I don't fret about how long my water is been in that tank if it's always chlorinated... but of course it never sits for months either. For the purposes of washing dishes, showering, etc... my water has always been fine.

5. I usually use a filter (that attaches to the hose) when filling as well. We have really minerally water here that I can only imagine filling up my 6 gallon water heater (on the 5th wheel) with deposits.

6. This probably doesn't need to be said... but just in case.. NEVER use a garden hose that you've used for other yucky RV-related deeds to fill your tank. Store yucky hoses away from your fresh water hose. (one time I saw someone use their water hose to use one of those back-flush connectors on their sewer line... OMG!! :sick )

7. If getting water from a faucet that could have been used by a real moron RVer (who might have used a yucky hose on this faucet), I use a strong bleach solution in a cup or something to dip the faucet head in to sanitize before I attach my pristine hose.

This post probably makes me sound like a really paranoid person.. but I'm really not. LOL I'll eat cold pizza for breakfast that's been out all night without batting an eye! :cheers

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Hi-----I got a bad load of water at a campground in Nelson BC. It took me 1 hr of continuios flushing to get smell out.I had to use a bit of bleach with no taste after.

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You're soundin' a bit Irish there.


My family has a long history in Nelson (My grandfather owned the gravel pit back in 1930's) *that the whole side of the mountain*


_ Long history of us Swede's in Nelson_.....and a great place to vist for all you wonderin'_


:) :)

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Rick
No Irish in me Lots of limey. Born in England. Yes I love Nelson and area. Lots of mining history.:)

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All of my family lives in the Kootenays.....Nelson and Castlegar.......Crawford Bay..Kaslo... Balfour....etc....about 90 years and counting... :)

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I spent my last vacation in Sept in that whole area.My wife is from Nakusp.

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Sue and I were there during the fires a fews years back......could not find a decent place to camp...till we found a field at about midnight...rangers came by at 2 am and charged us 12 bucks for the privileage...but we had fun...that ferry across Alice Lake (?) ...is beaut.

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Yup-----Beautifull area is right. Hey you should move this tread to BS section LOL

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BS section......isn't that the same as general chat?..............lol *I hear ya* :o

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Sally, if you are too meticulous about germs, you won't build up any immunities, kinda like Bubble Boy.

I use just about any water that comes out of a tap or hand pump at a CG (except the red hose at the sanitary dump, of course), and occasionally add a bit of bleach to my tank. The only time I buy water is when I need another empty jug for the RatLadies' Bedroom or distilled water for batteries.

Pete and Rats

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My way is Pam's way is Sally's way.

We use bottled, jugged water for our drinking water, tea, coffee and instant hot chocolate ('tis the season).

I know, we are kidding ourselves thinking bottled water is purer, cleaner, safer ... but we still carry a couple of jugs.

I really like Walmart's Spring Water ... it's actually from a spring!

What? Don't laugh. The long-standing, premier bottled-drinking-water-for-your-office-or-business supplier several years ago had to disclose that its water source was the Chicago Municipal Water Supply

Now, the supplier claimed it did all kinds of purification, etc ... but the fact remained that its source was Chicago city water.

Talk about a racket!

Sally! For years Coors has been claiming the purity of its water supply .... hope they don't kick you out of Colorado!

But I agree with Sally ... carry a jug or two of bottled water (hopefully not in a jug Pete's rats have used as facilities).

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Personally, I pay the 33c a gallon for the filtered water here at Walmart. Culligan owns the machine there.

The water in my office is so heavily chlorinated that you can smell the chlorine when you run the water! Yuck! I have a bottled water dispenser in my office and another at home.

If I'm home and cooking noodles, for instance... yeah... I use the water out of the tap. But for anything that is not gonna be heated, I still use the filtered water.

The bottled water delivered to my office costs about $1.20 a gallon... and I'll be damned if I'm gonna pay the same for water as I do for gas. :lol

So for my RVs.. there is no way I'd drink the stuff that has been through that tank. JMO.

That said, I've never bothered to look into those little filter gizmos that attach to the faucets. I have no clue if they're worth it or not.. but I'd be game to try one if others here think they do a good job of getting rid of chlorine taste and removing minerals like iron from the water.

:cheers

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Charles, you can tell the jugs used by the RatLadies as they have rat-sized holes in top and bottom!

Sally-I believe the best taste-filtration comes from charcoal-based filters, rather than particulate strainers.

Don't knock the sulphur smell; that's reportedly one reason the early Florida Crackers and other Hyphenated-Americans could put up with the mosquitos -- shallow, dug wells yielded water with hydrogen sulphide (which, BTW, will go away if left standing for a while). One year, my Ex was taking some kind of sulphur pills, enuf so that you could smell it on her skin -- She had zilch problems with mosquitos that year (unfortunately her share then headed my way:bh

Pete and Rats

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Living here in Lindale, TX, we have to have the filter. On Saturday or Sunday, we get a good bleaching with chlorine. The filter helps tremendously. Wouldn't live here without one.

:reye2

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a filter (that attaches to the hose) when filling

So Sally T, is this an easy to find filter? :P and if you don't eat, cook with, or drink the water out of the trailer, why filter it? :spin

Now!!, Gerald 'n Ruth, what filter is

the filter

tell me more.

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Doesn't running bleach thru your water system ruin the seals?

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aaarrrrgggg, I'm trying really hard, not to say this, but it's not working.:bh

You have seals in your water? don't they get it all dirty playing and splashing around like that?

Sorry Tom, It was bigger then me. :o