Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Problem Solving

Waal, here we are.

My good friend Stephen located the Golden Age Pass on my dresser at home and it will arrive in Moab, UT, on Thursday, USPS willing.  Don't snicker, they're actually pretty good at this.

I checked in to the RV park in Gallup, with water and sewer connections, and have been trouble-shooting the smelly water issue.  I've isolated it to the hot water heater ... I get un-smelly water at all locations, using the pump and onboard tank OR external water, if I just turn on the cold water.  That's something of a relief, because I'm pretty sure it means I don't have to go through draining and cloroxing the big tank.  I'm about to drain the hot water heater and see what I discover ...


Doesn't that look like fun?

Stay tuned ...

UPDATE

Yup, the water coming out of the HW heater is smelly.  I have bypassed it so that cold water comes out of both sides of the system, so I can't accidentally unleash the smell.  For now, I'll consider that a workaround.  I can live with heating water on the stove for this trip if I have to.  I'll pose the issue to the gurus on rv.net and see if anything gets suggested.  I now know enough to pose a half-way intelligent question.  I think.

3 comments:

  1. I Googled "hot water heater sulfur smell" and found a lot of similar results. Good luck!

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  2. Further update. The wisdom over on rv.net is that this a common phenomenon due to calcium buildup. CLR or vinegar pretty much solves the problem. The question now is how to get a dilute vinegar solution into the tank.

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  3. Huh. Naturally, there's not a little opening in the top of the hot water heater that says "add vinegar here." I'm perplexed that a calcium buildup would cause a sulfurous smell. If it's a bacteria (coddled in the warm incubator of the hot water heater), then peroxide or bleach would be the solution. Solution! Ha, ha. I just made a funny comment.

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