Stinky Water

[annmarie]

We recently brought home a 2015 Keystone Springdale 270LE (our very first trailer!) and are doing a test run camping in it this weekend in the driveway. There was some fresh water in the tank from the dealer (which we didn't dump prior to coming home) and it WREAKS. Here are some details:

- I started to drain the fresh water from the low point valve and noticed that didn't smell.
- I turned on the hot water in the kitchen and bathroom and noticed it stunk bad.
- I turned the hot water off and the cold water on and if I run it for long enough, the smell seems to go away completely.

So... I think there's a stinky issue with the hot water tank.

I was looking into details about flushing the tank and so removed the panel under the oven to look for a hot water heater bypass valve. My water pipes only have one valve nearish the hot water tank. The setup doesn't look like the hot water bypass valves I have seen in videos.

Does this mean I don't have a hot water bypass valve? And if not, how do I clean my hot water tank?

I plan to flush our fresh water tank with bleach anyway, will that be sufficient for the hot water tank as well? Or do we need to do something with vinegar?

Thank you!

[JRTJH]

There's a procedure to sanitize the water heater tank that's in the water heater owner's manual. Essentially, what you do is remove the anode rod (in the outside water heater door, near the bottom) if it's a Suburban water heater. If it's an Atwood water heater, it won't have an anode rod, just a plastic "screw in" cap. Remove either, then open the relief valve located at the top of the water heater compartment by pulling the lever. The water heater will "gush out" its contents.

Then use a small diameter tube on your garden hose to flush out any sediment that might be in the water heater.

After that, you can use a funnel to pour about a cup of bleach into the water heater, replace the cap or anode rod (use Teflon tape on the anode screw threads) and fill the fresh water tank using about 1/2 cup bleach for each 15 gallons of capacity. If you have a 40 gallon fresh water tank, that's about 1.5 cups of bleach. Then run the pump and allow the water heater to fill with the chlorinated water. Open each cold water faucet starting with the one closest to the water pump and let it run until you smell the bleach, then open the hot water faucet until you smell bleach. Move to the next furthest faucet and repeat until all have been purged and smell of bleach. Don't forget the outside shower.

Then let your water system sit overnight. In the morning, drain the fresh water tank, remove the anode rod and drain the water heater, flush it well, replace the anode rod and you should be "good to go".....

If you smell the bleach, flush your fresh water tank and you might want to add a quarter cup of baking soda to help neutralize the bleach smell.

[Daryles]

We used this method to sanitize our new 3130re. FYI, it took 3 full fresh water tank flushes to get rid of the bleach smell.

[annmarie]

Thanks for the tips! We bleached the system and the stink is gone!

[travelin texans]

If you have a Suburban water heater you may want to check/replace the anode rod. At times depending on water quality the hot water stinks very bad due a reaction with the anode rod.