Road Trek Water STINK

[did]

Hi,
I have a '98 Roadtrek 170. Two weeks ago I got lazy and filled the water tank using my garden hose. Since then the water has had a horrible smell (sulfur/rotten eggs). We came home from the weekend and I drained the water tank, cleaned it with bleach - twice, ran the bleach and water through the entire system....showers, sink, toilet. It seemed fine. This week....not so lazy and used the correct hose.....but the water smelled again. I took a sample at the drain to the water tank and it was as fresh as if it came out of the tap at home....but the water from the sink, showers and toilet all smelled horrid. Just to make sure I tested it two different days....same result. So the water is fine coming out of the tank....but once it gets to the taps......putrid.

Anyone ever run into this? Thanks
Daryl

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by did

Hi,
I have a '98 Roadtrek 170. Two weeks ago I got lazy and filled the water tank using my garden hose. Since then the water has had a horrible smell (sulfur/rotten eggs). We came home from the weekend and I drained the water tank, cleaned it with bleach - twice, ran the bleach and water through the entire system....showers, sink, toilet. It seemed fine. This week....not so lazy and used the correct hose.....but the water smelled again. I took a sample at the drain to the water tank and it was as fresh as if it came out of the tap at home....but the water from the sink, showers and toilet all smelled horrid. Just to make sure I tested it two different days....same result. So the water is fine coming out of the tank....but once it gets to the taps......putrid.

Anyone ever run into this? Thanks
Daryl

Probably you have accumulated an inch of gunk on the bottom of your tank over the years.

If that is the case, the best way to deal with it is to use pool shock.
Double dosage. Rinse and repeat.
Hopefully, the shock treatment can dislodge the dead algae and let you flush them out.

[did]

Thanks BBQ, I don't think that is the issue. I flush the tank every year at least once and sanitize with bleach. The issue is past the water tank. At the drain for the water tank the water is fine.....but past that point the water is very "ripe".

[gsm]

did

Maybe it is resident in your water heater tank? Drain it via the external port. See what you find. Flush it with some bleach in the water and run some bleach through all plumbing lines.

GSM

[CaDreamin]

Does it smell/taste like dirt? If so, it could be geosmin. It’s harmless but it is smelly.

Geosim is very common in dirt and it gives dirt its dirt-like smell. Geosmin is a by-product produced by certain bacteria.

Bleach will kill the bacteria but it does not get rid of the geosmin. It does break down in an acidic environment so rinsing your tanks with vinegar can get it out.

The human nose is extremely sensitive to geosmin, detecting it in even very tiny amounts.

There are also bacteria that produce sulfur as a by product, you might have those. They flourish in hot water so make sure the hot water tank and lines are included in your disinfection. A vinegar rinse is not required for these.

[VTPete]

Check the smell of your cold water vs hot water taps.
I had the same smell coming from my hot water heater... which I had not used.

I took out the anode rod from the heater and it was covered in something not quite animal, plant or mineral. And, it stunk. I cleaned the rod. I then had to flush the hot water tank. I even improvised a brush to get into the tank and try to clean the inside. That made a huge difference.

A week or so later, the smell started to return and I upped the percent of bleach in the fresh water tank and let it sit. That had the unexpected consequence of killing the black, evil growth in my fresh water tank and it started to detach from the surface of the tank.

It then clogged up my strainer... over and over. I ended up unscrewing the filter at the fresh water tank and taking a garden hose connected to a small diameter plastic tube and spraying the inside of the tank with higher pressure water. More black goop came out. Goop I had never smelled, but was a source of something that would continue to grow once that water went to the hot water tank.

Because my fresh water tank's support beams were bowed tremendously, I decided to drop the fresh water tank and replace them. When I got the tank dropped out, I carried it over to the side of my house were I used high pressure water, more bleach, soap and an endoscope for a couple of HOURS before I was convinced it was clean. I even improvised a brush that would flop around on the inside of the tank creating more friction. Oh, and I used pool bleach in powder form to add to the friction.

In the end, getting rid of the bad water smell required a full system flush and cleaning. Some of the pipes are impossible to reach, but now I have nice, pleasant town chlorinated water coming through the system.

I recommend you start with cleaning the hot water tank. If you've bleached your system and your water filter/strainer next to your fresh water tank isn't clogged, you might be ok. If it starts to get clogged from loosened junk, it's a symptom your fresh water tank is coated with bad stuff. (The $25 endoscope I got from Amazon was invaluable in peeking into the tank, by the way.)

Lastly, I ended up replacing the strainer with a Shurflo model that unscrews from the bottom for much, much easier cleaning. https://www.wholesalemarine.com/shur...SABEgJGuPD_BwE

-Pete

[did]

Thank you !!