rotten egg smell

got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the ho t water ran out.  No problem with cold water.  It came back after the w ater heated up again and this is from an electric water heater.  any idea s?

Well water?

the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the hot water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. any ideas?

Read this:

You can probably find aluminum anode rods for sale online; I did a few years ago.

Just be sure you take into account 1) the possible difficulty in removing the old rod -- impact wrench is very helpful -- and 2) the overhead clearance -- an "articulated"/"sausage links" rod may be needed.

You have to empty, cycle, empty. If kept hot it will be ok. Best to turn up to 140 or so degrees, then back off. The aluminum rod should take care of off times.

Greg

d got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the hot water ran out.  No problem with cold water.  It came back after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater.  any id eas?

No, city water

the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the hot water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. any ideas?

We had that problem with a couple of water heaters at work. Turns out, it is a reaction between the magnesium anode and the water chemistry. We put in aluminum anodes and the problem went away.

I had never heard of it, but it is a common problem in some areas.

Magnesium rod, not aluminum.

Paul

Right, you use aluminum to keep the stink bacteria from forming. I got this problem at camp, plus it's well water. I can also feed chlorine into system from the hose connection. Also had orange water last spring when I filled tank.

Greg

Try turning on each hot water valve to let any trapped air out. That includes any washing machine connections, showers, etc.

I imagine the anode can sometimes be the problem but the ones I've checked personally have not been anode related.

They have fallen into two categories:

bacteria living in the hot water heater, which are fixed by shocking it wit h chlorine (bleach) once, then keeping the water temperature hot enough,

and,

bacteria living in the drain. When you run hot water the drain smell comes up and seems to be from the water supply, but it's wrong. I've seen this one misdiagnosed multiple times. A cup of bleach down the drain cures this one. It does tend to recur occasionally but the fix is easy.

I would try both of these before I even considered changing anodes.

got the worst rotten egg smell ever and it continued for 20 min till the ho t water ran out. No problem with cold water. It came back after the water heated up again and this is from an electric water heater. any ideas?

It is definitely the anode rod in the water heater. Depending on the age of the heater ex. over 12 years old it may be better to replace the heater. P utting $ in a heater over 10 years old doesn't make sense as it could go ba d at any time and a new one would be more energy efficient. Hope this helps .