Rv Hot Water Rotten Egg Smell

[tbiddy]

Just wondering if anybody has dealt with a RV hot water tank that smells like rotten eggs?

Had the motorhome out on May Long and filled at the lake. Left some water in the holding tank and whatever water was in the hot water tank. Wife and mother in law were in the motorhome painting and used the water to wash up. The smell is pretty bad. Thought it was the water left in the holding tank, but drained it and no smell. Cracked the pressure relief valve on the hot water tank and was hit with the stink.

Is there a way to get rid of the smell?

[rembo]

You need a flush and a possibly a new anode....common issue. Easy to fix.

[geezer55]

Not all trailers come an anode. Old trailer had one, our new trailer doesn't. I'd follow the manual on how to flush the system from water tank to hot water tank and all the lines. Did it last year, it takes at least 12 hours to do.

[MountainTi]

Fill water tank, add a couple cups of bleach to it, and run thru the system

[Smokinyotes]

When we go camping and I fill our trailer with our well water I always make sure I drain everything when we get home. If you can fill your trailer with chlorinated water is your best bet.

[bat119]

Originally Posted by geezer55

Not all trailers come an anode. Old trailer had one, our new trailer doesn't. I'd follow the manual on how to flush the system from water tank to hot water tank and all the lines. Did it last year, it takes at least 12 hours to do.

Water heaters with aluminum tanks and a nylon plug will not have an anode if not used for awhile bacteria will grow and get stinky. Follow the flushing directions, bleach is powerful stuff and hard on rubber seals, pull valves etc. use sparingly.

[tbiddy]

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Its a '99 Winnebago motorhome so its not the newest unit. Winnebago is pretty great at customer service. If the flushing instructions are not in the huge binder I have, a quick call and they can sort me out. At least we found the smell here and not during our next camping adventure.

[raab]

Originally Posted by Smokinyotes

When we go camping and I fill our trailer with our well water I always make sure I drain everything when we get home. If you can fill your trailer with chlorinated water is your best bet.

Yep, well water is the culprit. We had this once, was enough to convince me to fill the tanks in town. Never had another issue.

[raab]

Originally Posted by tbiddy

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Its a '99 Winnebago motorhome so its not the newest unit. Winnebago is pretty great at customer service. If the flushing instructions are not in the huge binder I have, a quick call and they can sort me out. At least we found the smell here and not during our next camping adventure.

Do you have a pump for pumping chemical through the system to winterize? Id drain the system. Then just go get a 5 gallon jug of bottled water and run that through it the same way you do for winterizing. The smell will go away eventually.

[270person]

Don't be random with your bleach (sodium hypochlorite) dilutions if that's what you plan to use. It's corrosive to some metals and toxic if not flushed properly.

200 ppm is lots to sanitize and that is very little bleach per gallon of water in your tank.

There are safer solutions to use. Hydrogen peroxide for one.

[curtz]

Yup it's the well water, I use my well water in my trailer, I drain my fresh water and hot water after every camping trip.

[Dick284]

Even when filling my water tank with town water, I always add a couple cap fulls of bleach to the tank.
If it’s well water from someplace, I’ll double the amount of bleach.

Add your bleach first, too.