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Why does the water in my RV smell like rotten eggs?

May 15th 2018

Why does the water in my RV smell like rotten eggs?

Is your RV plagued with sulfur odor?! We've got the fix!

A common issue in many contained water systems is a rotten egg or sulfur smell coming from the faucet or water supply. There could be a few issues and in this post we will discuss potential issues.

1. If the smell is present when running either the warm or cold water, your problem may be in the fresh water system and changing or cleaning the in line filters, as well as flushing the system, may be your solution. If this is the case, be sure to use only regular Clorox bleach to clean the filters.

2. If the smell is present in the hot water only, there could be a few things causing this problem:

  • The first step is to clean the system. Suburban recommends to add about 6 ounces of common household bleach to every 10 gallons of water in the water tank
  • Turn off the power and water supply to the water heater and pump
  • Next, remove the magnesium anode rod from the Suburban water heater to remove the water in the tank and then reinstall the anode rod using teflon tape (this is a good time to inspect the anode rod and possibly replace if deteriorated. To help with this problem in the future, you may want to replace it with an aluminum anode rod)
  • Turn the water pump back on to fill the tank with water
  • Now open each hot water faucet one at a time until the smell of chlorine is present coming out of the faucets of each water outlet
  • Let the RV sit for at minimum 12 hours to allow the chlorine to clean the system 
  • Now remove the chlorine by draining and flushing the water system. This may take a few attempts to remove all the chlorine

This should cure the rotten egg smell but if the problem persists repeat these steps!

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