LESLIE: Dan in Florida’s next and your water has an unwanted scent. What’s going on?
DAN: The landlord replaced two water heaters and about two months after they were installed, it started to get a foul odor when I ran the hot water only in the kitchen. And the kitchen is closer to the hot water heater. The single bathroom, which is like 15 feet away, when I turn on the hot water doesn’t get that odor.
TOM: Is this house on city water or is it on well water?
DAN: This is city water.
TOM: Hmm. OK. And is the smell you’re getting kind of a sulfur smell?
DAN: It’s that sulfur and (inaudible) …
TOM: Rotten egg sulfur smell?
DAN: Yes.
TOM: Yeah. That’s … the reason you’re probably getting that is because the warm water is causing that water and the smell to vaporize when it comes out the faucet. So you’re kind of creating a cloud there. It’s probably just as bad in the cold water; it’s just that since it’s not heated, you don’t smell it quite as regularly.
The only solution for that, Dan, is for you to add a charcoal filtration system to the water supply. That’s going to be something that is in the municipal system that’s being delivered to your house with that sulfur content and that sulfur odor. I’m sure it’s perfectly safe. But it just doesn’t smell good. So that if you add a filtration system to it, you’ll eliminate that.
But the reason it’s happening with hot rather than cold is because it’s being heated and it’s offgassing into the air and then it’s getting up in your nose and that’s why it smells like …
LESLIE: Or the heat is releasing the funk. (laughing)
TOM: Right. So that’s why it smells like rotten eggs.
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