Welcome to my blog. My name is Darren. I own several rental properties in Western Australia. Once I had made the purchases, I discovered that several of the properties needed extensive work before I could rent them to tenants, so I had to hire construction contractors, plumbers, electricians, waste disposal experts and roofing experts to make sure the homes were in top condition. Once I had repaired the buildings, I contacted a letting agent who put them on the market for me. I learnt a lot from working with some many different businesses so I decided to start this blog to share everything I know.
Back in high school, you probably wondered whether some of the things you learned in chemistry class would be relevant to your life once you were done schooling. A bit of high school chemistry explains the unpleasant odour coming from the water inside your heater's storage tank. Because you probably don't know where you high school chemistry notes are, here are answers to three questions you might have about the smelly water.
Where Does The Unpleasant Odour Come From?
There are no rotten eggs in the heater's storage tank and the similarity between the unpleasant odour and the smell of rotten eggs is purely coincidental. Unpleasant odour is an indication that the quality of water supplied to the heating system is less than perfect. The rotten egg smell is commonly associated with water that has a high concentration of sulfur. As sacrificial anodes generate current within the heater's storage tank, hydrogen gas is produced as a by-product.
The reaction between hydrogen gas and sulfur leads to the production of hydrogen sulfide within the tank. Hydrogen sulfide gas smells like rotten eggs and is responsible for the unpleasant odour that your hot water is giving off.
It's important to point out that your drinking water shouldn't have a high concentration of sulfates. Children who drink sulfate-rich water are likely to suffer from diarrhea. If the smelly water in your heating system and your drinking water come from the same source, get your drinking water from a different source.
How Is This Odour Eliminated?
Eliminating the unpleasant odour will require you to reduce the quantity of hydrogen sulphide gas produced within the heater's storage tank. Replacing magnesium anodes in the heater's storage tank with aluminium rods is among the best ways to do this.
Aluminium is a less reactive metal as compare to magnesium. Therefore, aluminium anode rods will generate less electric current in the water storage tank. This means that the quantity of hydrogen gas produced within the storage tank will be significantly less. By extension, the quantity of foul-smelling hydrogen sulphide produced within the tank will also be significantly less.
Aluminium anode rods are readily available from the dealer that sold you the water heater. They're also readily available from third party dealers spread across various parts of Australia.
You should also consider chlorinating the water in your storage tank in order to reduce its sulfur content, thereby taming the production of hydrogen sulphide.
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