Shower fixture odor

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Royerm

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Hi folks...
I've had this fixture for a couple of years now and now getting the "rotten egg" smell only
when I use the rainfall above the head. The Hand/jet are OK.
Not getting the smell on any other fixture in the house either...
Any Idea???? on what is causing this???

Regards.....

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Reach4

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Chlorinated city water, or well water?
 

Reach4

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I am suspecting something is growing. I am not a pro. What I think I would do may not be what you should do.

I would sanitize my plumbing, but you also want to minimize the chlorine going into the septic. Not sure how you would handle that. The septic can handle some bleach. I think what I would do for that shower, because of the high volume that might be involved, would be to spray water into the/a tub, and use a pump to pump, via a hose, to outside drainage. I already have the utility pump and hoses. If I did not, I might just keep the spray with the chlorine water brief. Not sure.

You might do that as part of sanitizing your well and the rest of your plumbing including the water heater. I figure to do that every couple years. http://www.moravecwaterwells.com/index.php/maintainance/disinfection-and-testing is my favorite procedure for the well, and then I follow by feeding that chlorinated water in the well to the house after letting the chlorine levels drop. I got some high-range chlorine strips and some fairly narrow range pH paper to help.

For just the shower, you could maybe introduce chlorine into your whole-house filter housing.

It could even be that you could crank up the heat on the WH, if you don't have a mixing valve, and running the extra-hot water through the shower head for a while. I don't know if that would be effective.
 

Royerm

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One thing I should add is, it only happens for the top of the fixture and only on that one.. for a couple of minute.
Chlorinate the well for me is impossible as it overflow all year round..
thx for your comments..
 

Jadnashua

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The rain shower head assembly may not drain fully, and water stagnates there, making your problem. Is there any way to open it up and look, or clean?
 

Royerm

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The rain shower head assembly may not drain fully, and water stagnates there, making your problem. Is there any way to open it up and look, or clean?
I think I can look on the top without taking it apart, I'll do that...
It reminds me also in a post some time ago that some folks were actually
complaining about the type of tube they were using in those fixture and that it was
creating similar problem ???
 

Terry

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It could be the tubing in the shower unit if it's the only place you notice it. I've seen that with a kitchen faucet before. changed the supply lines and the problem was fixed.
 

Royerm

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It could be the tubing in the shower unit if it's the only place you notice it. I've seen that with a kitchen faucet before. changed the supply lines and the problem was fixed.
Thx Terry, I thought that I had seen that in a post some time ago.
I'm wondering if a type of material is better than others????
Cheers
 

Terry

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Thx Terry, I thought that I had seen that in a post some time ago.
I'm wondering if a type of material is better than others????
Cheers

The supply line I found causing bad taste was a vinyl flex connector. I put on my standard braided stainless and it was fine. They have a plastic tube inside too, but most don't affect the smell or taste.
 

Royerm

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The supply line I found causing bad taste was a vinyl flex connector. I put on my standard braided stainless and it was fine. They have a plastic tube inside too, but most don't affect the smell or taste.
I will look into this but I think I have a vinyl tube....I'll get back to the forum on this...Merci/Thx
 

Royerm

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Hi Folks.....as a follow-up.
I've dismounted my shower fixture from the wall to look inside, well I had the type of tube
that I have in the picture, seems like a very soft tube and specially the white portion of it.
I suspect that the white portion being that soft, it made some absorption and made the smell..
I've removed it and replace it with a transparent braided tube and the smell went away immediately.

I've also look into the portion of the rainfall that in my opinion could retain water, so I wash it
with javex and will keep an eye on it to see if the smell comes back....

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Royerm

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The supply line I found causing bad taste was a vinyl flex connector. I put on my standard braided stainless and it was fine. They have a plastic tube inside too, but most don't affect the smell or taste.
Terry,,,If you look at my previous post I've reported my findings....Thx
 

Royerm

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"I've removed it and replaced it with a transparent braided tube and the smell went away immediately."

Sounds awesome. :)
Does this sound like what you have experienced before????
and is this similar tube to what you had problem with?????
Cheers..
 

Terry

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Does this sound like what you have experienced before????
and is this similar tube to what you had problem with?????
Cheers..

The bad supply we had was on a kitchen faucet. They were buying bottled water until I replaced the lav connectors. All it takes is one.
You can't tell what is inside a braided hose until you open it up. It's anybody's gues what is there.
 
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