My water smells like rotten eggs...?

Question

I have a bathroom that is with the masterbedroom. when I run the water in the sink the water smells like rotten eggs. Only for about 10 seconds. The water doesn't smell in the rest of the house. the kitchen, 2nd bathroom and the shower are all fine. I'ts just the sink in the masterbath. I've changed the cartridge in it but that didn't help. any ideas?

Oh, I htought I would mention that we are on city water and not a well.

*andy* it smells bad when it comes out of the tap from both hot and cold water. It's defintaly not the drain, it's the water

Answer 1

maybe your House is Haunted... I was going to suggest Sulfur-until i read the complete comments below the Quest-
maybe prior to getting City water the house was plumbed to the well pump/ maybe the one sink never got switched over/// do you live in the Country?
that reminds me- 2toilets & my daughters sink all drain to the Septic, for sure, the washing machine drains to a gray line opposite side of house from septic, the kitchen & dishwasher drain to grease trap & field line Front side of house.
So septic EAST side, grayline West side and Grease Northside.
i have yet to find where 2 bathtubs & an additional sink drain...
i've dug around the house in circles chasing it--- any suggestions???????

Answer 2

Trudy.... Since you are on a city water line we can rule out sulfur in the water. However since the smell is confinder to one bathroom sink, I think this may be able to help you. The sink "trap" or elbow pipe is located under the sink itself. the pipe prevents the backup of gases forming in your sewer system by keeping a water barier in the pipe itself. What has happened is the piping itself has overtime become a magnet for waste products, usually in the form of some black and slimy sludge. This "stuff" that has attached itself to your pipe and the bacteria inside is creating this smell. Remove the "elbow" pipe and clean it with a detergent and some bleech, the bleech will help to kill the bacteria. Be sure to check the other drain lines too, use some kind of a narrow brush to get into these pipies. Be careful when you take off the elbow pipe (it's full of water, so get a small bucket or something underneath it.) If you have and overflow on your sink be sure to to get some bleech in that little hole too. Once all the sludge has been removed, place everthing back together again and on occasion (1x/month) pour a strong soloution of 50% bleech and hot water down the sink and let it sit (this will prevent future bacteria growth.) I am pretty sure this will solve your problem. Oh.... the reason you are only smelling it for a few seconds is that when you turn on the water, it forces the air out of the pipe and up into the sink where you are usually standing, after a few seconds the smell disappears...?????

Answer 3

"Rotten eggs" is the distinctive odor of hydrogen sulfide. You can localize the cause by tapping into the pipe (if you can get access to it) at progressively farther locations between the culprit basin and rest of the house. If you are saying that the shower in the same bathroom is fine -- and presumably the toilet cistern also -- then the likely cause is limited to the common water supply and the tap of the basin you complain of.

Is it both the hot and the cold water that smell bad, or just one of them? If it's both, then the mixer may have something stuck in it, and you can just turn off the supply beneath the basin and dissassemble the mixer tap. (I assume by "cartridge" you mean the aerator, but if you have already dissassembled the whole tap and it's both the hot and the cold water then the puzzle deepens, and I want to know whether the water smells bad as it comes out of the tap or only when it touches the basin (presumably because you're using some weird cleanser on it...)

Answer 4

Hi Trudy,

Get a qualified plumber over soon.

What you're smelling is quite possibly hydrogen sulphide. It's heavier than air, so it tends to concentrate at the bottom of poorly ventilated spaces - deep wells, sewers, and underground tanks.

My guess is that there's an obstruction in the deeper piping system somewhere beneath your house, and that trapped organic matter is generating the hydrogen sulphide.

Prolonged exposure to the gas is not really good for your health. Although you say it's just 10 seconds, one of the properties of H2S is that it numbs the sense of smell of people smelling it - although they can smell eveything else, the gas itself 'stops registering'.

Dunno which country you live in, but do get a private or municipal plumber over to get a professional opinion. They should be able to sort it out for you. At least your problem is localised to one sink, so they know where to concentrate.

Cheers!

Answer 5

It may be from your drain and not the faucet. An easy way to check this is to get a pitcher of water from another faucet and pour it in the drain in the master bath. At least then you can tell the plumber where the source is.

If it is on the drain side make sure that all drains have a P-trap. A P-trap prevents the back flow of sewer gasses (which can be high in sulfer) that may explain the smell.

Answer 6

It sounds like you have a sulphur problem. Do you know if there is sulphur in your water supply? That always causes a rotten egg smell...

Answer 7

that smell is sulphur. however, i'm confused as to why it doesn't smell in the rest of the house. i would call a few plumbers and ask why only 1 sink in the master bath have the rotten egg smell and ask how u can get rid of it.

Answer 8

The water is anaerobic. There must be a pipe near this part of the house where water lies without air contact. The mell is from sulphur fixing bacteria that thrive in anaerobic conditions. If you must fix it you could try replacing the piping or altering the angle so water does not pool in the pipe. People actually pay to bathe in sulphur springs it is supposed to have health benefits.

Answer 9

Are you sure it's both hot and cold that stinks? Water heaters have what is called an "anode rod" in them, and depending on your water...they will make the hot water stink like rotten eggs. Then the anode rod needs to be removed.

Answer 10

Maybe you have rotten eggs in your water

Answer 11

I don't have an answer, I just googled my problem and found you describing EXACTLY the same thing--the smell is only coming out of the bathroom tap, and we have city water. I can't find the link of how to see the answers to this question!