tacocat99
New Member
Hello,
I moved into the house a few years ago. After like a year I decided to lower the temperature from about 140 to 120. After a few months a smell started to fester in the hot water, smelled like someone vomited in a dumpster. Thought it was the anode rod so I replaced it with an titanium electric one. This didn't fix the issue, however when I cranked the heat back up, the smell stopped getting worse and running the hot water would gradually reduce the smell.
I had a plumber come by and flush the tank and bleach the system/pipes. He said that it was probably a bacterial build up from leaving the temperature too low and not using enough hot water. The smell is like 95% gone but any time I leave standing hot water (like in a pot or bathtub), or wash my clothes in hot water, the smell will gradually start cropping up again. If I fill up a pot with hot water and leave it in a room, after half an hour the smell will be slightly noticeable. If I wash clothes in hot water and leave them in a room, after a few days the smell will come back. The whole house used to smell when I took a shower so this is a major improvement.
The only thing that has successfully removed the smell from my clothes is to soak them in a 5 gallon bucket with 1/4 cup of baking soda for about 2 hours. Would it be safe to pour a 2 cups of baking soda in the water heater for 2 hours then flush the tank out with a gallon of vinegar? I have drained the tank 2 times but the smell still lingers in the hot water.
I moved into the house a few years ago. After like a year I decided to lower the temperature from about 140 to 120. After a few months a smell started to fester in the hot water, smelled like someone vomited in a dumpster. Thought it was the anode rod so I replaced it with an titanium electric one. This didn't fix the issue, however when I cranked the heat back up, the smell stopped getting worse and running the hot water would gradually reduce the smell.
I had a plumber come by and flush the tank and bleach the system/pipes. He said that it was probably a bacterial build up from leaving the temperature too low and not using enough hot water. The smell is like 95% gone but any time I leave standing hot water (like in a pot or bathtub), or wash my clothes in hot water, the smell will gradually start cropping up again. If I fill up a pot with hot water and leave it in a room, after half an hour the smell will be slightly noticeable. If I wash clothes in hot water and leave them in a room, after a few days the smell will come back. The whole house used to smell when I took a shower so this is a major improvement.
The only thing that has successfully removed the smell from my clothes is to soak them in a 5 gallon bucket with 1/4 cup of baking soda for about 2 hours. Would it be safe to pour a 2 cups of baking soda in the water heater for 2 hours then flush the tank out with a gallon of vinegar? I have drained the tank 2 times but the smell still lingers in the hot water.
