my water smells rotten?

Question

when i do laundry the water that comes out smells rotten. the water in the rest of the house is fine. it only smells like this with the water from the washer. i live in the country but i do not use well water. any suggestions on what could be causing this or how to fix it?

Answer 1

Maybe its cause your clothes are dirty as hell and your kid poops his pants or something???

Answer 2

If the smell comes from only hot water at any faucet in the house then there is a bad anodizing rod in your water heater. When this rod quits working heavy particle build up in the hot water heater tends to grow bacteria and cause a rotten smell. This type of anodizing smell can also happen at a particular facet if two different pipe and plumbing materials come together such as brass and galvenized. the materials react with each other and minerals in the water to make a rotten smell. Unlike plumbing materials are properly separated with unions,washers, teflon tape, using all like metal plumbing supplies, etc.

Answer 3

It is likely your washing machine rather than the water, since your other water doesn't smell that way. Next load of white laundry, put in a good dose of bleach, or run an cycle--empty load--with bleach. Bleach is often NOT recommended for septic systems, but sometimes is necessary to kill mold or mildew you have living in your washer. If you don't use the washer a lot, it allows time for the mold to grow. Try doing laundry more often, not just on weekends. There are some detergents which are better than others at removing smells, check them out.

If this doesn't resolve your problem, my next suggestion is the drain where your washer evacuates the water. Maybe your drain needs cleaning out--shop vac. Drains are supposed to have a vent, and maybe yours is blocked?

Answer 4

Sometimes country 'municipal water` is from a well.
If it's a 'rotten egg` smell, it's H2S,
(hydrogen sulphide), common in well water.
Your house may have a water treatment system
to remove this from the drinking and bathing
water, and the washer line might not be treated
for economic reasons or simply connected
ahead of the system.

Answer 5

1. disconnect the hoses from their faucets.
2. Run some water out of the faucet into a bucket. If that smells bad, your problem is in the plumbing.
3. If the water from the faucet smells clean, your problem is in the washer and/or its hoses. Run some bleach through the hoses, or soak them in the bathtub with bleach water, or buy new hoses.
If the water from the faucets smells bad, there could be a cross-contamination problem in your plumbing. I don't find it possible to advise you on that in this forum. I would call a plumber in that case.

Answer 6

Do a load of strong bleach water & soap let run & set for a while>Clean the ridge around the top of the washer inside>Don't let the cloths sit in the machine after done> Leave the lid open when not in use>Use a soap with bleach in it>

Answer 7

The odds are that the water which goes IN to your washer is fine. Assuming you aren't really mucky, then the washing machine itself is at fault.

Your local water company can test the water for you, but this may be costly.

Answer 8

If your water smells like rotten eggs, it's due to Sulphur. You may have to get a water softener. Check into this problem further.

Answer 9

CLR has a product that may help you before replacing your washing machine or calling a plumber. some municipalities make water hard to prevent corrosion problems in the supply lines. this probably has built up in the internal plumbing of your machine. go to the hardware store or walmart,target and ask for their "CLR" products, follow the directions and it should help

Answer 10

I think you should get it checked by a plumber because the pipes that lead to the tap may be made of some kind of metal like lead and cause a smell.

Answer 11

Check your hot water heater, sometimes when you don't use enough hot water, the water sours. It smell like rotten eggs.