The water heater is one of the most heavily utilized appliances in the home. Not only does it supply the water you need to bathe, but it is also responsible for supplying additional appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers with the piping hot water they require. As a result of such heavy demands, it is not uncommon for a water heater to develop certain plumbing problems as time goes on. This article will discuss the problem of stinky hot water, and what you can do to eliminate it.
Does your hot water smells like rotten eggs or bad fish? It may be hard to believe that any living organism could survive in the extreme heat of a water heater. Certain species of anaerobic bacteria, in other words, bacteria that do not require oxygen to survive can do just that. In fact, water heaters provide the ideal place for such bacteria to proliferate.
This would not be a problem in and of itself since the bacteria themselves are relatively harmless. However, those bacteria are capable of generating a wide range of “off” smells when they react with the metals either magnesium, aluminum, or both that make up your water heater’s anode rod. This reaction produces hydrogen sulfide gas, which ends up giving your hot water an undeniably rotten smell.
Fortunately, there is a fairly simple solution to the problem: installing a new anode rod. Not just any old anode rod will do. What you are going to need is an anode rod that contains zinc, in addition to other metals. You see, zinc is a deadly substance to those odor-causing bacteria. Its presence is enough to successfully stifle their growth and thus to prevent the generation of stink substances as well.
For stinky hot water or other plumbing issues in Ridgewood, Queens, feel free to contact the experts at Kew Forest Plumbing & Heating.