Smelly hot water, help me troubleshoot?

[rtp2022]

Hi there folks, I'm having trouble figuring out what is causing the rotten egg sulfur smell in my hot water (all faucets/shower head, hot water only). I've tried a few things but the smell is still there and is making showers unpleasant and my skin stinky post shower.

First thing, we just bought the house and been in it 2 weeks. It's on well water. The past owner shock chlorinated the well this past May. He moved out and we moved in after 2 weeks so the house sat empty for about 2 weeks. Hot water wasn't turned off.
On the day I moved in the hot water was black and reeked like a thousand rotten eggs. I let the hot water run until it turned cold and it was no longer black but still smelled. Google said SRB (sulfur reducing bacteria) in hot water tank is a likely cause.

Then I read that turning up the heat to max will kill it off. I cranked it up to 150 F. After 8 hours the smell significantly reduced but still a faint whiff of rotten egg smell that won't go away even after letting the water run for 10 mins.

So now I'm confused as to what is going on. The well source was shock chlorinated this past May and the anode replaced (no idea what type) in Feb of 2021 so less than 2 years old. Technically I should have killed off any possible bacteria that grew when the tank sat idle for 2 weeks though I'm not sure how the SRB escaped the well shock chlorination.

I have NOT flushed the tank and I'm not sure if this will make a difference?
What should I do next? I don't understand what is still causing the smell...could the anode be corroding already? Will a corroded anode cause the smell even without presence of SRB? Total newbie on all fronts, thanks much for any advice!

AT

 

[skeezix]

Why don't you google "smelly hot water"? Only takes a couple of seconds...

 

[rtp2022]

As I've mentioned I did Google and have done a bunch of suggested things that didn't completely solve it and was hoping for advice on what else could be going on. Did you even read my post in its entirety?

 

[Twowaxhack]

Drain the water heater, add a few cups of bleach by pouring it through a short hose connected to the drain valve.

Close drain valve and fill with water, purge all air.

Heat to 150 degrees and then go to each faucet and run water until it reaches max temp and you smell bleach. Very important you do all hot faucets and appliances.

Let it sit 24 hrs.

Turn heater back down to normal temp setting and purge tank of the 40-50 gallons.

Consider a chlorine injector for the cold water if the smell comes back.

Consider changing anode to different type, probably would benefit from aluminum anode.

 

[rtp2022]

Drain the water heater, add a few cups of bleach by pouring it through a short hose connected to the drain valve.

Close drain valve and fill with water, purge all air.

Heat to 150 degrees and then go to each faucet and run water until it reaches max temp and you smell bleach. Very important you do all hot faucets and appliances.

Let it sit 24 hrs.

Turn heater back down to normal temp setting and purge tank of the 40-50 gallons.

Consider a chlorine injector for the cold water if the smell comes back.

Consider changing anode to different type, probably would benefit from aluminum anode.

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was hoping for. Something I haven't tried. Will attempt this, thanks again!

 

[TomFOhio]

I just replaced an anode on a 2 month old water heater. It was half ate up after taking it out. Replace yours again.