Why Does My Hot Water Heater Smell Like Rotten Eggs

It’s five in the morning, and you just rolled out of bed, and somehow you’ve managed to successfully navigate your way to the shower. You don’t want to be up, but that hot shower is going to help your day start off right.

But the water isn’t right.

It smells. So much so, that you almost gag.

You turn off the hot water and realize the cold water doesn’t smell. With a groan, you turn on the hot, and there it is. That odor.

A rotten egg stench. One that makes you think of burning sulfur.

Thankfully, you got a whiff of the water before you went in, but that doesn’t change the fact that your water stinks.

You make your way to the computer, and you punch in, hot water heater smell like rotten eggs.

And of course, the internet offers up 10,000 possible solutions and answers in about .02 seconds.

But are any of them right?

Of course, they are. Some are long-term fixes, and some are short-term fixes, but if you’re anything like me, you want the long-term fix. Who wants another morning where you’re going to be wrapped in a towel, crouched over your keyboard and typing in, hot water heater smell like rotten eggs?

I know I wouldn’t. My days start off rough enough as it is.

With that said, you’ve gotten your results – more than you want – and you start to scroll down the list of sites. Some offer quick fixes for a minimum payment, so we’ll just keep on going past those.

But a few offer the real deal. You’ve found a couple of sites that tell you exactly what you need to know. Your hot water heater, it smells because of some anaerobic bacteria that lives in your well water. And, evidently, this particular strain of bacteria doesn’t like some of the components in your hot water heater. When the bacteria comes into contact with the components, your water stinks.

Now, the water’s not dangerous, it just doesn’t smell good. And adding softener to your system is going make your water smell worse, so leave it alone.

You can try and make the changes to your water heater yourself – and there are lots of videos out there on it – but plumbers do this sort of thing for a living, so rather than possibly damage your water heater, you may want to give a professional a call.