Warm water smells, cold water does not

[blub]

Hello,

I recently bought my first home and am new to the whole well system. I am facing a problem and hope that you guys might have some ideas on what I can do to solve it.

First of all, here is my setup:

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?res...authkey=!AF92Uv4y_BimOYE&v=3&ithint=photo,jpg

You can see that I have a chlorination tank and pump to get rid of the strong sulfur smell. The thing is, that it works well on the cold water (and I can measure the chlorine in the water coming out of the tap), but especially in the morning my hot water smells pretty bad (and I don't measure any chlorine). Most days the smell goes away after letting it run for a few minutes. I assume it has something to with the cycling of the water filter and the water softener during the night but haven't figured out what exactly is happening.
Some more information: as you can see, the chlorination pump is triggered by a flow switch between the retention tank and the water filter. Do you guys think that's the right thing to do it? It means that when I drain the retention tank there will be absolutely no chlorine added to it when I refill it. Shouldn't the switch be between the pump/pressure tank and the retention tank?
In my garage I have the water heater, which is coupled with a solar system on the roof. I don't think the solar aspect has anything to do with it though.

Do you guys have any ideas? How can unchlorinated water get into my water heater? Any input is appreciated.

 

[Reach4]

I would consider swapping the anode in your water heater with a powered anode. Others would replace the anode with a plug, but I think that would shorten the time before your water heater leaks.

I can't see your photo.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[blub]

Thanks for your quick reply. The picture should be visible now. Do you think that my water heater could just be so gunked up with sulfur that it makes the water smell bad again? But that would go away over time, I would think...

 

[Reach4]

The thing that you show as a water filter... is that a thing with a controller that looks like a water softener? If so, that would be an activated carbon backwashing filter. The jobs of that device are to filter out the solids that the chlorine has precipitated out of the water and to remove the chlorine. You may be getting some bleed through in your chlorine.

If your water heater predates your chlorination system, I would definitely flush the water heater. If it does not, but it has been in place for 5 years, I would still flush the water heater.

http://www.rheem.com/docs/FetchDocument.aspx?ID=442e1e42-1e4a-4ada-81db-9b030030f470 is one document that makes comments on water heater smells. Some smell production in the water heater can be from sulfur reducing bacteria growing in the water heater. Higher water temperatures and sanitizing your plumbing system including the water heater could help that. Chlorine is not good for softener resin, so you would want to not use a high concentration. The water heater can take it. The anode they are touting reduces the current in the water heater to reduce the sulfur reaction in the water heater due to the anode. I believe that reaction happens even if there is no bacteria present.. A powered anode, which sounds expensive at almost $250, eliminates that reaction and provides top protection of the heater tank. I have one, although I ordered it before putting in my iron+sulfur backwashing filter.

Try a search engine search such as water heater anode sulfate smell to find more discussions of hot water heater smells.

This thread has discussion of water heater flushing: https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/proper-gas-hot-water-tank-flushing.62015

 

[blub]

Reach4, thanks for you detailed answer. The first link you included exactly describes my problem! I had no idea that the sulfur smell was "created" in the heater itself, but it certainly makes sense now. Will look into treating it with chlorine and also look into increasing the temperature.

 

[Reach4]

If my understanding is correct, eliminating bacteria will help with that part, but the anode reaction to sulfate in the water does not require bacteria. I think those are two independent sources of smells in water heaters.