My hot water heater is letting off a awful odor. I keep changing the water filter and it don't help is there anything i can use to clean it.How to clean the smell out of my hot water heater?I've seen other answerers on here say your water heater anode rod can cause smells. In fact, I've wondered how this could be, and I just looked it up online, here is what one company (who admittedly sells replacement anode rods) says, it sounds kind of murky to me but this might apply:
%26quot;magnesium anode rods can cause odors. The cause of odor in a water heater in many cases is caused by bacteria. That bacteria in most cases is harmless but loves the hot water environment as well as some anode rod material (usually magnesium). Changing a magnesium anode rod to either of the types that we offer might get rid of the problem. Because there are so many factors we can not guarantee that the odor will be eliminated but if you have no odor on the cold side of a faucet and only the warm side generally (not 100%) replacing a magnesium anode rod with one of ours will solve the problem. Some water heater manufacturers' claim that softened water causes the problems. We have a hard time believing that. Removal of the bacteria will also solve the odor problem. Sanitizing the water heater (with safe levels of bleach, etc), will eliminate the odor but only for a variable (relatively short) length of time. A trace amount of H2S gas in the water is another cause of hot water odor but removal of the anode rod will not cure that odor problem.%26quot;
So... if your water heater has been in use awhile, and the problem just came on, it could be your anode rod needs replaced. Many people would probably choose that as a good time to just replace the water heater, instead.How to clean the smell out of my hot water heater?I'm far from an expert, but what I would do is put a cup of vinegar into the tank, let it sit for a couple of hours, and then completely drain it.How to clean the smell out of my hot water heater?Magnesium anode rods (the hex shaped cap on top of your heater) can cause a %26quot;rotten egg%26quot; smell or other milder sulfuric smell in your water. The only real remedy for this is to replace the anode with an aluminum anode or an anode made of some material other than magnesium. Public water systems in some areas have a bacteria that is totally harmless for consumption but reacts to magnesium by producing a sulfuric stench.
