About that stinky water in the hot water heater

PrettyPaisley · #1 04/30/14, 09:31 PM

Apparently Mr. Robert, the man who helps us out around here, knew right off the bat why my water stunk. When I said, "The hot water in the heater that is coming out of the sink in the barn smells awful." he interjected with, "Yep-it will. There's a rod you can buy and change out to make the smell go away." I guess I was the last to know. I bit my tongue and smiled instead of asking him why the devil he didn't tell me this when we were at Lowe's buying the darn water heater !!!!

Anyhow-I've not done that yet. $60 is 6 bags of oats for the goats so I need to budget. Meanwhile, the drain from the sink is very basic; it uses gravity more or less to empty downhill out behind the barn. (I'm careful what I use in the sink; I don't want stuff in the water/land/goat area that might be toxic.) Well the man who built the barn installed a concrete pad where I can milk and he put a basic drain in the center so I could wash muck down and that's all connected to the sink drain. Well it's been about 3 weeks now of using that smelly hot water heater water and this morning when I was milking I could smell something just awful. Almost like rotting chicken ... but there shouldn't be a dead chicken in my drain. Other than using the sink to wash up when I milk, washing eggs and washing hands, nothing else goes down that sink.

Could this be the smelly water settling in the pipe under the drain? I do hear it flush through when I empty the sink or other pails of water and such-so it's not clogged but something it's right. Even if some milk goes down the drain - I've never smelled milk this bad and I've smelled some bad milk!

I'm okay with the smell of a barn but this is about to run me off. Here I thought I was milking in high cotton and turns out I'm milking in what smells like a fridge that's been shut up and turned off for a month!

ct01r · #2 04/30/14, 09:42 PM

If I understand it correctly, the drain in the concrete pad is connected to the drain in your sink? Where does the sink drain go? A lot of times drains in barns just go out the nearest exit; a wall, under the floor to a gravel pit, the dirt, etc. It's easy for a critter to crawl in from the outside, and either die and stink, or have a nest, food, etc. that'll slow down the flow to allow smell to accumilate. If your trap has water in it, that should block the smell, but if it's not draining right, the water could be stagnant. If the drain is gurgling, you might have your air vent blocked, too. Good luck! Curt

PrettyPaisley · #3 04/30/14, 10:31 PM

I wasn't clear. Sorry!

So yes, there is the sink against the wall of the barn. The drain from the sink runs under the concrete and then there is a connection about 6 feet away where there is an additional drain in the concrete. There is just one pipe and that pipe runs from the wall in the barn about 50-60 ft under the barn and down the hill towards the neighbor's line and past where the goats hang out. So I had been using the drain in the concrete until we had the sink installed-for about a year-without issue. I'd spray the concrete or sweep the area and let the stuff run on down the hill through the drain. The horrible smell just started about 3 weeks after I got the water heater.

Harry Chickpea · #4 04/30/14, 11:55 PM

I'll bet on a dead critter as well.

ct01r · #5 05/01/14, 01:04 AM

So your drain dumps onto the ground directly (even though it's 60 feet away)? If that's the case, the easiest thing might be to have someone dump/run a bunch of clean water down your sink drain, while you wait at the discharge to see how fast and how clear it comes out. You could fill the sink with water if it's big enough (like a slop or utility sink), or use several 5 gallon buckets. If you have good flow and clarity, you could do the same thing from the concrete drain. This would be the easier/cheaper route before you start replacing anodes. Curt

P.S. Is "Milking in high cotton" a local phrase? I like it!

PrettyPaisley · #6 05/01/14, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ct01r

So your drain dumps onto the ground directly (even though it's 60 feet away)? If that's the case, the easiest thing might be to have someone dump/run a bunch of clean water down your sink drain, while you wait at the discharge to see how fast and how clear it comes out. You could fill the sink with water if it's big enough (like a slop or utility sink), or use several 5 gallon buckets. If you have good flow and clarity, you could do the same thing from the concrete drain. This would be the easier/cheaper route before you start replacing anodes. Curt

P.S. Is "Milking in high cotton" a local phrase? I like it!

That makes sense. When I dump a 5 gallon bucket into the sink I usually hear that "swooshing" sound of the water pouring through and out the other end. I think I'll fill a few tomorrow and see what happens. Surely to goodness something didn't just crawl up there and die at the same time I have smelly water installed!

The "high cotton" thing is not very ladylike at all.

It's a throwback from my deep southern roots. I'll let you google that just so I don't break any rules here and offend anyone any worse than usual.

Simply put, it means you have arrived, you've joined an elite group of folks.

geo in mi · #7 05/01/14, 06:12 AM

Have Mr. Robert go back to Lowe's and get:

a 3/4 " nipple three or four inches long,
a 3/4 " union
a 3/4 " pipe plug
a can of pipe dope, or teflon pipe tape.......

With a deep well socket, take out the darned rod, for now--only if you do plan to get the new one in a short time. Refer to the "This Old House" segment in the previous thread.

Install the nipple, then the union, then top it off with the plug. Use copious quantities of pipe dope to seal the threads.

If you smell the roses instead of the water in the drain, you'll know that's the source. But the more gunk you flush down the drain, the greater the chance you have pools of gunk collecting in the low spots and making anaerobic bacteria--it makes methane (among other smells), and that is backflowing through your sink. This is why you should have a "P" trap underneath your sink, plus a "T" in your drain, which connects to a stack to the outdoors--to let the gas escape before it returns up your sink drain.

Hope this will keep you in high cotton.....

geo

PNP Katahdins · #8 05/01/14, 06:32 AM

#1 hit for Alabama in 1989:

akaRach · #9 05/01/14, 10:00 AM

Why wouldn't she have had smelly stagnant pipes before this time too? Could adding the sink somehow changed the flow and drainage of the pipe?

blooba · #10 05/02/14, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akaRach

Why wouldn't she have had smelly stagnant pipes before this time too? Could adding the sink somehow changed the flow and drainage of the pipe?

New sink would smell if you didnt install a p trap or vent it correctly.

PrettyPaisley · #11 05/02/14, 02:16 PM

In the interim I put a couple drops of thieves oil in a 5 gallon bucket and flushed the water down the drain last night. This morning when I was milking and I could smell the cleaner and not the dead animal smell. Clearly I need to get that rod swapped out as the horrible sulfur smell of the water is not passing through the drain the way it should.

ct01r · #12 05/02/14, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PNP Katahdins

#1 hit for Alabama in 1989:

Thanks for sharing the video - I love Alabama! Curt

Callieslamb · #13 05/02/14, 10:25 PM

If it's your water..then it's your water. Some well water has little things in it that multiply and when hot and stagnant for a while - start to stink - a bit like rotten eggs. So people blame the water heater. The rod isn't one you put it- it's one you take out. But it's there to corrode so the bottom of the water heater won't and start to leak. Take it out at your own risk. Or replace it and soon the water will probably start to stink again.
But you probably need to look at your water not just the heater. Our house was empty for 2 years before we moved in. The water smell was horrible. We had to pour bleach into the water heater and run it through all the lines to remove it. It comes back from time to time and we have to reshock the system. You can also shock your well....but I wasn't in favor of that.

o&itw · #14 05/02/14, 10:51 PM

The rod is magnesium and helps keep the lime from sticking to the heating coil and corroding the tank (it's an anionic thing). I don't think it will help much with a smell unless you have iron or sulfur in your water. I bought one for my water heater about 10 years ago..... I have never been able to break loose the top part of the old rod from the threads to replace it. Before you buy a new rod, make sure you can get the old one out... it is likely you can't. If you lived closer you would be welcome to the one I have.

They make an impact wrench socket to remove the old rod... it costs about twice what the rod does. It might be better to try and kill the bacteria in your water. If you don't have sulfur in your water, that is likely where the smell is coming from, and you really don't want bacteria in your water anyway.

http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/pag...r-heaters.html

PrettyPaisley · #15 05/02/14, 11:21 PM

Wonder if it just wouldn't be easier to have the water from the well that runs to the barn run through the filter that the water coming into the house is run through? It's a pretty nice filter and the water that comes into the house *never* stinks. Ever.

Waterwheel Farm · #16 05/03/14, 01:50 PM

PP,
As a couple other's have asked....do you have a trap under the sink? If you do, and it has water in it, you won't smell anything in the main drain line no matter how many critters crawl up in it and die. It's why you don't smell the septic or sewer smells coming back in your house from your sewer system and your sinks inside....the water in the P trap seals out the fumes. If the bad smell is actually coming from your hot water line, and you have a well, I'd suggest you try chlorinating your well. Several procedures on line for this. Cheap, effective.....and cheap, plus it only costs you a jug or so of cheap bleach. I've done it many many times.

WWF