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Rotten Egg Smell in Hot Water

Plumbing and water treatment companies are often faced with complaints about smell in their hot water.

Plumbing and water treatment experts often deal with complaints about water heaters giving off a rotten egg smell. This widespread issue across North America can cause discomfort and embarrassment, especially when guests are around.

Many plumbers, when confronted with the challenge of the rotten egg smell in hot water, might initially opt for quick fixes that, unfortunately, do not offer a lasting solution, leading to customer frustration and repeated service calls. While water treatment specialists propose long-term solutions that indeed work, they can come with a hefty price tag, often exceeding $2000.

Causes of the Rotten Egg Smell in Hot Water and How to Fix it

Understanding what causes the unpleasant rotten egg smell in your hot water is crucial for finding the right solution. Two common culprits stand out: sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and the reaction involving the magnesium anode rod in your water heater. Let’s dive deeper into these causes and explore how to effectively address them, ensuring your water remains fresh and odor-free.

Sulfur Reducing Bacteria

Although there are several reasons why you have rotten egg smell in your hot water, the most common cause is the sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) in the water heater. They feed on sulfur and produce hydrogen sulfide gas as waste. When the gas dissolves in the water, it gives it that characteristic odor of spoiled eggs or sulfuric odor. Even if the smell is horrible, those bacteria are not dangerous to your health.

Magnesium anode rod

Another common cause is the chemical reaction between your water which has high concentrations of magnesium content and the magnesium anode rod in the water heater tank. In some cases, the chemical reaction can be stopped by removing the anode rod. However, we don’t recommend that since the water heater won’t have any protection against corrosion. The water heater will corrode faster and cost you a lot of money when it starts leaking and could bring other issues such as air in your hot water lines.

How to stop the rotten egg smell?

No matter the cause of the rotten egg smell in your hot water, the Corro-Protec Powered Anode Rod swiftly addresses this issue within a few hours of activation.

Unlike traditional methods that require frequent maintenance or the use of chemicals, such as chlorine shock treatments or aluminum anode rods, Corro-Protec provides a long-term, maintenance-free solution to eliminate these odors and protect your water heater.

The system works by replacing your water heater’s sacrificial anode rod with a titanium anode rod that is powered by a plugged-in power supply. This process not only eliminates the source of the rotten egg smell, typically caused by bacterial growth, but also prevents it from returning.

The continuous current supplied by the Corro-Protec anode rod ensures that the internal conditions that allow these bacteria to thrive are neutralized, offering a permanent solution to the problem.

Water Heater Anode Rod for Residential Tank between 40 and 89 gallon capacity
Representation of Corro-Protec powered titanium anode rod
Representation of Corro-Protec powered titanium anode rod
Representation of Corro-Protec powered titanium anode rod
Representation of Corro-Protec powered titanium anode rod
Representation of Corro-Protec powered titanium anode rod

Our Corro-Protec True Promises

With Corro-Protec, enjoy an easy 15-minute installation that eliminates and prevents hot water odors, backed by a 20-year warranty. Our maintenance-free approach, using a titanium anode rod and steady current, is designed for hot water effectiveness, not cold water issues.

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Other water smells and solutions

Sulfur Smell

Sulfur or rotten egg smells in hot water, regardless of the descriptive terms used, indicate the same issue. The Corro-Protec anode rod is the go-to solution for these odors, effectively eliminating them at their source.

If your hot water smells like rotten eggs, Corro-Protec offers a reliable remedy to ensure your water remains odor-free.

Cold Water Smell

If your cold water smells, it may be due to high levels of hydrogen sulfide gas in your well. Water filters can improve drinking water quality, but consult a water treatment specialist for accurate testing and solutions.

However, if the smell is both hot and cold water and you want to reduce it in your hold water, the Corro-Protec anode will reduce the hot water reactions that make it worse. Both cold & hot water will smell the same.

Natural Gas Leak

If your smell is coming from an appliance instead of your water supply, turn off your gas supply, go outside, and contact authorities and your gas company. Smell comes from your gas water heater, gas stove or anything that uses gas inside your house you may have a natural gas leak.

Water Softeners’ Role in Hot Water Smell

Water softeners, while making water softer and more pleasant, can unintentionally boost the rotten egg smell in hot water by facilitating conditions that favor sulfate-reducing bacteria growth. This happens as these systems swap hard minerals like calcium and magnesium for sodium, inadvertently promoting an environment where these bacteria thrive, especially in the warmth of a water heater, thus increasing hydrogen sulfide gas production.

The Corro-Protec Powered Anode Rod addresses this by preventing bacterial growth, ensuring your water stays fresh and odor-free without risking your water heater’s protection against corrosion.

Corro-Protec: Proven Protection & Satisfaction

Corro-Protec sets the standard in water heater protection with our powered anode rod, proven effective by over 5,000 positive online reviews.

Our commitment to quality and customer satisfaction is unmatched, offering a 90-day money-back guarantee and a robust 20-year warranty to ensure your peace of mind. Our titanium-powered anode rod, distinct from temporary fixes such as peroxide treatments or aluminum anodes, guarantees years of maintenance-free performance.

Corro-Protec 20-year warranty anodes received WQA Lead-Free Gold-Seal (SF/ANSI/CAN 372 Water Quality Association for USA and Canada)

4.89/5 Based on 365 reviews

«Yes! The dreaded rotten egg odor is gone. I did try an aluminum anode but was still getting the smell. I ran my old hot water heater without an anode for over two years until i got a blast of crap blocking my tub faucet valves and elected to buy a new tank and along with a Corro- Protec Anode. So far so good and enjoying the green lighted comfort feeling furnace room now»

Yvan L.

«This is a great product at a good price. Replaced a standard anode rod that was in the house when I bought it and was only 3 years old. It was completely gone due to the water quality. Installed this product and instantly the rotten egg smell was gone and I never need to worry about when to replace the rod. I had to tear up the top cover a bit to get it in but well worth the investment.»

Mitchell H.

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