Does your hot water smell fishy?

[Kim-n-Dean]

In the last few weeks our hot water smells kind of fishy. You can really smell it in the shower when you first turn on just the hot water. Our water heater isn't that old and I've flushed it a few times over the years and always get a lot of sediment. Sometimes it's a light green, other times it's pure white and big pieces. What gives? Is it an Aurora thing? Gonna flush it again tomorrow and see what comes out.

...and please refrain from calling it a 'hot water heater'... (that was for Dave)

[birchyboy]

No fishiness here a few miles north of you.

[Bueller]

Supposebly, for all intensive purposes if you have no depth of perception it can make it hard to change your light bulbs.

[Kim-n-Dean]

Supposebly, for all intensive purposes if you have no depth of perception it can make it hard to change your light bulbs.

I've been thinking about that one. Since "bulb" is a description of shape. Bulb does not only apply to the plant world, as you say. Some lamps are shaped like a bulb, therefore, light bulb is correct in those situations.

[~Barn~]

Sounds like a mute point if you ask me.

[Kim-n-Dean]

Sounds like a mute point if you ask me.

Don't you mean moot?

[salsashark]

Don't you mean moot?

He could care less...

[birchyboy]

Irregardless of how little he cares.

[jlr]

What temperature are you running. Some people claim that you should run the water heater at 140F to prevent stuff from growing in there. That is a great temperature for the dishwasher and clothes washer, but it is too hot for faucets and showers due to scald hazard so you then need a mixing valve to bring the temperature down to those outlets.

If everyone in the household is mature enough to adjust the temp to avoid burning themselves, then personally, I would just crank up the water heater to 130-140F and see if it goes away. I think code states that the max temp from a faucet is something like 115 or 120.

[Kim-n-Dean]

What temperature are you running. Some people claim that you should run the water heater at 140F to prevent stuff from growing in there. That is a great temperature for the dishwasher and clothes washer, but it is too hot for faucets and showers due to scald hazard so you then need a mixing valve to bring the temperature down to those outlets.

If everyone in the household is mature enough to adjust the temp to avoid burning themselves, then personally, I would just crank up the water heater to 130-140F and see if it goes away. I think code states that the max temp from a faucet is something like 115 or 120.

We've been in this house for over seventeen years and two water heaters. This smell has happened before, but very faint and for a very short time. I always figured it was Aurora since it happened on both water heaters.

Yeah, that's not comforting thinking something could be growing. I've always run my heater at a minimum of 140f. Great for the items you mentioned and great for filling our jacuzzi tub, which we never use anymore because we finally bought an outdoor tub about a year ago.

I've smelled lots of different smells coming from hot water all my life. Hotels, other homes, etc. Growing up a lot of people had wells and I'm very aware of stinky water. Never thought about some live-stock. I doubt that's it, but I'm cranking my heater all the way up for several hours to "sterilize", just in case.

[jlr]

The common wisdom is that 140F is hot enough to prevent anything from growing - can't hurt to crank it for a bit, just be careful if you use the faucets. It doesn't sound like that is the explanation if you've already been running it up that high.

The only other thing I can think of, is I know they have labs that will analyze your water, but all the home test kits I know of test for something specific, e.g. lead. I'm not sure if there are any that tell you if there is "anything bad" in the water. If there is such a thing, might be worth getting it tested. As I'm typing this, I'm wondering if your water dept will test it if you ask?

[~Barn~]

The common wisdom is that 140F is hot enough to prevent anything from growing - can't hurt to crank it for a bit, just be careful if you use the faucets. It doesn't sound like that is the explanation if you've already been running it up that high.

The only other thing I can think of, is I know they have labs that will analyze your water, but all the home test kits I know of test for something specific, e.g. lead. I'm not sure if there are any that tell you if there is "anything bad" in the water. If there is such a thing, might be worth getting it tested. As I'm typing this, I'm wondering if your water dept will test it if you ask?

[3point5]

Dean - we have had smelly water at our office in centennial and our water-cooler/coffee vendor said the city of centennial has had issues - I don't know where centennial gets their water but wouldnt surprise me ifit routes through aurora.

[FZRguy]

No smelly water (hot or not) on the west side. Now get those gold fish outta the tank, Dean!

[Kim-n-Dean]

No smelly water (hot or not) on the west side. Now get those gold fish outta the tank, Dean!

Now you tell me!

[birchyboy]

Aurora water will come and test your water free. We had an odor on the cold side a couple years ago and they came out the same day. Did some pH testing, etc. they chalked it up to some water main work they were doing the same day.