Stinky hot water woes

[tsiunltdus]

Bleaching the heater will help but the odor will come back. It will be a continual job. When it starts to smell, bleach again. My water was that way too until last year I installed a submersible pump in my well and put all new lines in the well. Haven't had the stinky smell since. But I do still have the iron like you said you had.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I have a submersible pump. Don't think the pump type makes much of a difference.

For the past week or so I've been flushing the bottom of the tank in bursts. I was still getting black crud out of the bottom until the past few times. Last night I drained a few gallons and dumped 4 bottles of hydrogen peroxide in the tank as recommended (less harsh on the plumbing than bleach and also safer). Let it sit until now, and just turned on the hot water. NO smell!

Of course we'll see whether or not it comes back, but at least for now it isn't stinky. I'll update this if it starts smelling bad again. Some people report it comes back, others report it was a permanent fix. Fingers crossed. Some said to do another peroxide treatment within a couple weeks even if it isn't smelling bad to finalize killing off the stuff, so I may do that too.