Hot Water Tank - Will burnt element cause water to smell?

[sprdoorman]

When we used our 2013 279RBSL for the first time this season, I forgot to switch the valves on the water heater back to the normal position. Left it in bypass mode. Turned on the electric switch to heat up the water and after about an hour, my wife told me she didn't have any hot water from the faucet. It then hit me as to what I did. Killed the switch, waited a while and put the valves back in the correct position to fill the tank.

Tank heated up fine and we have had plenty of hot water since. Only problem I have noticed and not positive it's the tank, but the water now seems to have a smell to it similar to well water that has a sulfur smell to it. Could a burnt element that hasn't failed be causing this? Seems to go away after running a lot of water through the system.

[sprdoorman]

Well did some searching and found the attached file of instructions from an Atwood manual on getting rid of Rotten Egg Smell. In step two they say to "cycle the hot water tank 4-5 times letting it run under normal operation".

Does anyone know if this means to heat it up and then let it cool 4-5 times?

[lcv800]

I'm guessing let it heat up, run it until it's cool water, let it reheat, etc. Just my thought.
Rusty

[Mongo]

probly burned / dried up the residue like calcium deposits on electrode .. will most likely rinse away eventually
on my rv the element would burn out and sent the whole RV to ground fault

[sprdoorman]

Originally Posted by sprdoorman

Well did some searching and found the attached file of instructions from an Atwood manual on getting rid of Rotten Egg Smell. In step two they say to "cycle the hot water tank 4-5 times letting it run under normal operation".

Does anyone know if this means to heat it up and then let it cool 4-5 times?

Update: Followed the instructions in the attachment. Since they said that the Vinegar needs to stay in the tank during the whole process, I took it that the cycling meant that it needed to be heated up and cooled 4-5 times.

Turned off the bypass valves to isolate the tank from the rest of the system. Rigged up some piping to be able to fill the tank trough the relief valve so I didn't have to take it off. Drained the tank, replaced the plug and filled the tank with 4 gallons of Vinegar and 2 gallons of water. Did the heat up - cool down thing which took quite a few hours. Drained the tank and then flushed it out through the relief valve several times.
Found some other instructions somewhere else about adding some bleach to the water piping by putting it in the City Water connection. Since mine has a check valve where you attach the hose, I drained some water out of the hose and poured the bleach mixture into the end of the hose. Attached the hose and turned on the water to push the bleach into the system. Let it sit overnight. The instructions said to then add some baking soda to kill the bleach smell. Mixed up some with some water and pushed it in with the hose the same way.
Let it sit for a while then flushed out the lines real good again. We don't use this system for drinking or cooking, just for bathing and washing dishes. Use bottled water for everything else.
When finished, all odors were gone. Not even any chlorine smell was left.

[Kuhl951]

Depending on your WH model it might be coming from the magnesium anode. It will produce hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) after sitting for awhile. My Coleman has this problem and it goesaway after flushing hot water for about 5 minutes. If a zinc WH anode was used you usually won't smell anything but the corrosion protection is lessened due to moderate passivation at high temps. Either way I've always just flushed the hot water tank until the smell goes away. This is easier to do while connected to city water than your water tank.

[hilbilydavid]

It happens due to the minerals that build up in the tank, I have well water at the house and it does the same thing from time to time. The plumber told me to put a little bleach, about a cup, into the water system and run the water till you smell the bleach, let it sit about half hour then run the water till you don't smell the bleach anymore. I do that at the beginning of the season in my camper and I have not had the problem since, the house I have to do 2 to 3 times a year.

[KathyJB]

That is what my husband said they do at the rig. While setting up our camper yesterday I used the hot water to wash my hands and pee U it had that rotton egg smell. When I go back to add the mattress topper I will try that. Thanks