Bad Odor from water system

[Thane]

I suggest you drain the freshwater tank, remove the drain fitting, and check inside the tank for algae and other cooties.

You may also be able to see these as dark spots when looking at the tank from the outside.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by canakiwi

So magnesium anode, thank you for that. I will get a new anode and sanitize the system again. Will be a week or so as I'm currently 150 Km from the nearest RV dealer.

https://www.amazon.com/Suburban-2327.../dp/B003VAYRNM

if you have Prime and order it today, you'll get it Saturday

[sumac.rhus]

Here is the other thread re same isssue - you are not alone, I'm convinced it is nothing you did wrong, or bad water: http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f9...ell-15615.html Due to a sequence of unrelated events I haven't tried ALL the recommendations yet. Still hoping one will do the job. Best wishes

[pittendrigh]

Our new 21 had bad tasting water at first. It had been my habit to drain the system each time we used it. On a hunch I left water in the system for almost a month. Then drained and refilled a few times and now it's a lot better. My problem may not have been related to yours.

I think in my case I needed some hard well water in the system for a month, in order to form a mineral scale on the inside of the pipes. Now our water is fine. It did start off with a weird industrial-chemical-like taste (although not necessarily a smell).

[gone4awhile]

We had the same problem - sour smelling water coming from the kitchen tap, as well as a sour smell in the clothes closet. Dustin (from Escape) offered this suggestion and it worked like a charm: After dumping grey and black water, drop about a cup of powdered (not liquid) dishwasher detergent down the kitchen sink. Run warm water until the holding tank is about half full.
Dump blue solution down the toilet and flush the toilet for a couple of minutes to allow a few gallons of water into the black tank.

Drive your trailer for at least a half hour (or however long you need to arrive at your next destination) to allow both solutions to slosh around well and then dump again.

The water system smelled like a daisy and our clothes cupboard no longer had a sour smell. We always dumped blue solution and a few gallons of water into the toilet after every dump, but Dustin suggested doing the cleanse with the dishwasher powder and warm water into the kitchen sink from time to time. It worked so well for us - hopefully it will for you.

Good luck!

[Little Richie]

These are all great ideas. I recommend doing them in the same sequence.

1. Take about five gallons of water from your kitchen tap, taste it and pour it into the fresh water tank. Next, taste it from the tank drain. (This test the entrance point, the tank, etc. )

2. Using all of the same equipment you use on the road -( pressure reduction gauges, hoses, etc. )- fill the fresh water tank and taste the water from the fresh water tank.

3. Fill the water heater from the fresh water tank. Drain and taste; run the gas heater and drain and test; repeat for electric heater if you have one.

4. Shut off the hot water tank.

5. If you have a winterizing bypass take a bottle of water from your house kitchen and run it through each line one at a time. If not, just go straight from the tank.

If you have a problem you may have to test the pump separately.

Others may note a step I left out.