Black sediment and rotten egg smell from HOT water

Users who are viewing this thread

wazio7

New Member
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Illinois
I installed my new High Efficiency water heater 2 years ago....replacing a pair of HE water heaters that lasted 14 years. Now for the past 3-4 months, there is black sediment in the hot water and it really smells like rotten eggs.
We have city well water, very hard with lots of iron in it. I do have a BIG water filter installed between the softener and the hot water heater.
I flush the hot water heater every couple months or so.
This has gotten so bad that the bathtub is literally gray when filled. All hot water outlets throughout the house smell, and will put out the black sediment for a moment or two when turned on...then it will subside after a few seconds.
I've read that I need to pour Peroxide into the water heater....but that is a temp fix. I removed the Magnesium rods from my original water heaters early on and they lasted 14 years.....so should I do that with this one too?

Last thing.....I tried to unscrew/remove the Magnesium rod....No luck, it's tighter than heck. Tried a box end wrench and no luck...tried an impact wrench with tons of torque and rounded the bolt head!!! I tried a pipe wrench and it just slides off.
Yes I used it with the teeth facing the right way. Any tricks to getting that darn thing OFF???? Help.....my wife is NOT happy with black smelly water.
Thanks
 

Master Plumber Mark

Sensitivity trainer and plumber of mens souls
Messages
5,533
Reaction score
354
Points
83
Location
indianapolis indiana - land of the free, home of
Website
www.weilhammerplumbing.com
you are screwed....

you are screwed..... you have already used an impact wrench
and it did not get the rods out of the heater....

in hindsight you should have taken them out before installation
for some reason when they sit for a while in hot water they become impossibly tight

I have never tried to drill out the center of one of those rods and chisel it
out.... I dont think it will work and you will probably lose the rod into the heater..
but you can spend the day attempting that if you so wish...
(now that sounds like fun to me).:cool::cool::cool:

we have had this issue before and just warrantied the heater out because
it was impossible to get that rod out... if you got 2 of them its double the fun:cool::cool:

:cool:sorry charlie.....

 

Reach4

Well-Known Member
Messages
38,749
Reaction score
4,400
Points
113
Location
IL
I installed my new High Efficiency water heater 2 years ago....replacing a pair of HE water heaters that lasted 14 years. Now for the past 3-4 months, there is black sediment in the hot water and it really smells like rotten eggs.
We have city well water, very hard with lots of iron in it. I do have a BIG water filter installed between the softener and the hot water heater.
I flush the hot water heater every couple months or so.
This has gotten so bad that the bathtub is literally gray when filled. All hot water outlets throughout the house smell, and will put out the black sediment for a moment or two when turned on...then it will subside after a few seconds.

You want to install a backwashing filter after the pressure switch but before everything else. There are various filters that will deal with sulfur. My filter uses Centaur Carbon, and did wonders. I had both sulfur and iron to deal with. It really cleared things up.

Regarding the water heater, I agree with master plumber mark. I broke a cheap 1/2 inch impact wrench (or I could say it broke) trying to remove my anode, but I returned it for a 5/8 inch which barely did the job. The first movements were tiny. I was using a 1-1/16 6-sided impact sockets. Using the 12 point box end wrench might have started the rounding.

I switched to a powered anode, screwed in with teflon tape and much less torque than OEM. Yes, I checked for conductivity. The threads cut right thru the teflon. The powered anode was to get rid of the anode rod reaction while protecting the water heater. I ordered the powered anode before deciding to get the big front-end filter. The old anode was eaten away. They are fairly expensive, because they are not high-volume items. The powered anode can be moved to another water heater.
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks