Rotten Egg Smell Hot Water Only

[mikell]

If your broke just remove the anode and cut it off and replace the plug. I have done that a time or 2.
It's in the top of the tank and looks like a pipe plug.
mikell

[Pat]

It is just a small nit but if anyone cares the sacrificial anode (magnesium or aluminum rod) is less knoble (not more as stated in a previous post) than the other metals in contact with the water.

I have never had this problem in a house but my camper required a new anode. Whew, and to think some people get used to drinking sulphur water. In the town of Sulphur, OK there is an artesian well flowing the putrid stuff and it is a tourist attraction (been there but prefer to stand upwind.) It has a water fountain so you can sample it. We had friends in Beaver Dam, Ohio whose tap water was strongly flavored of sulphur and they acted like it was normal.



[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

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In the town of Sulphur, OK there is an artesian well flowing the putrid stuff and it is a tourist attraction

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Pat, I've been there many times, grew up not far from there, and didn't think that water smelled or tasted bad; just a little different.

[Pat]

Bird, I'm not sure if I am to agree or disagree with your surmise about the water tasting just a little different.

Do you mean the water at your place of residence as a kid growing up near there? It may not have been as foul as the tourist well.

If yes, then that is just fine. My friends at Beaver Dam, Ohio grew up drinking water nearly as foul as that in the "tourist attraction" well and were used to it. Nary a complaint. It was just a fact of life.

If you think that the water flowing from the artesian well on display at the "park" is just a little different then you'd eat rotten eggs and think it was just a little different. I've tasted the water at the drinking fountain and I have watched the reactioin of other tourists young and old at that fountain and I can assure you that the reactioin I saw indicated that the water was BEYOND just a little different.

If you really mean the strong stuff then "YOU DO MAN!!" and for a real adventure in taste treats I recommend you try diluted putricine and cadaverine individually or mxed, straight or with seltzer.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

[img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] Yeah, Pat, I've watched the tourists at that fountain, too. I realize the sense of smell affects the sense of taste, and the odor at the fountain apparently greatly affects the perception of the taste for a lot of people, because it doesn't taste nearly as bad as most folks expect it to. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Ahhh YUP! The sense of smell as we think of it is a larger part of what we usually think of as tase than ACTUAL taste. Humans detect taste with taste receptor cells clustered in taste buds which detect molecules and ions taken into the mouth. There are five primary taste sensations: salty, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami. All the other taste sensations are in fact olefactory sensations, i.e. from the sense of smell.

So... if the tourists held there noses and drank the water without pausing to breathe (allow the gasses with the odors to get to the nose in significant numbers) the water wouldn't really taste so bad. What typically happens is they swish it around like they were at a wine tasting and maximize the smell portion of the experience.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Yoblonda]

<font color="blue"> There are five primary taste sensations: salty, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami. </font color>

What is umami? I've never heard of that before.

Yolanda

[Pat]

Yolanda et al, Sorry, I intended to say something about umami (not yo mama.)

Long after I learned about the first 4 in school I found out some Japanese professor figured out that there was another taste detected by our taste buds. It is found in some meats and whatever but for a simple example taste some ajinomoto (aka monosodium glutamate [sp?]) One trade name is Accent.

Probably doesn't have much to do with sulphurous water.

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[Anjou]

I've read that sulfur in the water can be reduced to hydrogen sulfide by a magnesium sacrifical anode in the hot water tank that is used to protect the liner. I've also read that bacteria in the water can do the same thing if the setpoint temperature is too low. I've got a similar problem with my water, except that the smell is also present in the cold water, but is much less noticeable. Unfortunately, the only running hot water I have is in the shower and for all I know the problem could be that the shower head is aersolizing the hydrogen sulfide. Lastly, my well installer told me that the odor level can change after heavy usage. My water smelled a whole lot better when I was barely using any water.

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The destruction of the enemy is the destruction of oneself. -The Dalai Lama of Tibet

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