Domestic water

Bill Riordan_3

I'm hoping someone on the wall can help me with a problem in my home. I have a small home with one bathroom on the second floor. The house is served with city water and the quality of the water seems to be good. The problem is a foul odor can be detected when you open the facuet in the second floor bathroom.This is the only fixture that produces an odor and it last for only a short time. The smell seems to be more prevelant when running the cold water.The smell is rotten egg and lasts breifly. I have read about hydrogen sulfide being produced in indirect hotwater heaters, but I cannot figure out why the smell seems stronger on the cold water side and only appears from one fixture.Hot water temperature is currently set at 145 degrees.Can anyone give me a hand with this problem?

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doug_10

Bill,

> I'm hoping someone on the wall can help me

> with a problem in my home. I have a small home

> with one bathroom on the second floor. The house

> is served with city water and the quality of the

> water seems to be good. The problem is a foul

> odor can be detected when you open the facuet in

> the second floor bathroom.This is the only

> fixture that produces an odor and it last for

> only a short time. The smell seems to be more

> prevelant when running the cold water.The smell

> is rotten egg and lasts breifly. I have read

> about hydrogen sulfide being produced in indirect

> hotwater heaters, but I cannot figure out why the

> smell seems stronger on the cold water side and

> only appears from one fixture.Hot water

> temperature is currently set at 145 degrees.Can

> anyone give me a hand with this problem?

>

> _A

> HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=

> 274&Step=30"_To Learn More About This Contractor,

> Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A

> Contractor"_/A_

doug_10

Bill,

Is this the only faucet with a good aerator? Yes, it most likely is H2S, and when it is released into the air it gives off this odor.

It usually occurs after sitting in the pipes for a length of time...you probably notice it most first thing in the morning, right? And that faucet is the furthest run from the water entering the house?

The combination of piping length, "down" time and aeration leads to the H2S problem. I would guess that the Cl2 residual coming into your house is a bit low...I don't want to start trouble, but if it where me I would contact the water company and explain it to them. They should come out and check the residual at your tap...talk them into leaving some reagant there and you can check that bathroom tap first thing in the morning...me thinks it will be zero. Or, arrange it so they come in the morning and have that tap sitting all night unused.

A small carbon filter would help here...I prefer they be for the whole house, but the cost is pretty high...or some sort of circulation system (also expensive).

Hope this helps. Take Care, PJO

Geno_5

smell

I'd agree. I think all homes on city water should have a dirt /rust filter followed by a carbon filter. PJO, do you agree? I think a lot of people feel their water is perfect because it's city water but a little extra filtering would be better. Hopefully the water co.'s won't flip out.
Geno

Art Pittaway

Proof is in the filter...Yuk!

In Rockford Il. the water looks pretty good, until you put a filter on it. I finally put two whole house filters in parallel and had to change them monthly. They turn a muddy red/brown color, thick and slimey. I mounted them right after the meter and outside tee and before the softner. You only needed the pleated (20 micron?) filters, they caught the rocks and sludge. Oh, we distill our actual drinking water.

MikeR_3

Drain?

Just a shot in the dark... did you check the drain on that sink? I once had a bathroom sink that was giving an odor, and I too focused on the water. Turned out to be a partially clogged drain. Only smelled when the water began flowing. I'm still not sure exactly what was in there causing the odor, but the smell stopped after I snaked it out!

Jim_22

Sink odor

I once had a customer with a lav sink odor problem that had me scratching my head for awhile. Only occured with the water running. Checked and cleaned the drain, added vents to no avail. Finally found it to be a bacteria or mold growing in the vent/overflow cavity of the sink. I pulled the pop up out of the drain and plugged the overflow outlet holes with plumbers putty. Then used a home made cardboard "chute" to dump a bunch of baking soda down the over flow inlet, followed by some vinegar. This mixture frothed and foamed for awhile, then I removed the putty "plugs". A very ugly pile of thick black "goo" poured out, flushed the overflow with a hose and the smell was gone!

Probably a longshot but you never know.

Good luck!

Jim

Bill Riordan_3

Thanks

Thank you for your input. After reading your posts,my wife mentioned a black goo that appears deep inside the drain.I plugged the drain and overflow and filled the sink with bleach. Black goo filtered out of the overflow passages. Hope this solves the problem, if not I have a really clean sink! Thanks for the great ideas.

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doug_10

I agree...

that every house should have filtration. The problem is that they probably won't be maintained correctly...and this leads to fouling and increased bacteria counts.

A 10 micron sediment filter followed by a carbon filter would be the setup IMHO, and putting two trains in a parallel circuit would be the best.

I also think it would be good if the water company kept up with this but that's not realistic. Maybe a reminder about changing the filters, like the batteries in the smoke detectors?

Take Care, PJO