Dead animal smell from RV shower water

[Ohiosnowbird]

This has been making us crazy since last summer. For the first 5 minutes the water runs in the shower it smells like a dead animal. When that smell gets in your hair it’s terrible. It only happens in the shower no where else. We’ve replaced the water pump because the pressure was inadequate and the pressure is fine now. We replaced the instant hot water heater because it failed. We’re currently hooked up to the faucet at our house but it was doing it on the road last winter. There’s a filter in the shower on the shower hose, which helped for about 3 days. When we’re not at a full hookup we really can’t run the shower until it doesn’t smell. Any ideas?

 

[SargeW]

Do you use water out of your holding tank, or straight out of a water faucet? Sometimes water that has sat for a while in a tank can get a skunky smell. Especially if the water came from a well instead of a chlorinated municipal water source.

 

[Ohiosnowbird]

Do you use water out of your holding tank, or straight out of a water faucet? Sometimes water that has sat for a while in a tank can get a skunky smell. Especially if the water came from a well instead of a chlorinated municipal water source.

It came from chlorinated city water.

 

[SargeW]

So much for that theory! What about mold in the shower line? Can you remove the shower head and fitting to see inside the supply line? You could try draining the lines by using the low point drains, then pour straight bleach into the line and let it sit for a day.

 

[Ohiosnowbird]

I’ll run that by him. We just replaced the entire shower, new plumbing where we could get to. New shower head, hose, faucets. It is really making us crazy.

 

[Rene T]

Are you sure it’s not coming from the drain. I would dump some bleach down the drain and let it sit overnight

 

[UTTransplant]

Rene, bleach is awfully hard on plastic plumbing! I would recommend Green Gobbler if anyone has an issue with the drains in an RV. A fellow RVer who is also a licensed plumber recommended it years ago, and that stuff is magical! But if the smell gets in their hair from the shower head, I doubt it is the drain. I would recommend doing a tank sanitization and making sure the (lightly) chlorinated water runs through the shower head a bit. 1/4c old fashioned bleach per 15 gallons of tank capacity, let sit for 8-12 hours if possible. It would clean out any nasties in the shower lines.

 

[Domo]

H2S is created by bacteria in our water heaters as a common issue. The water heater should be sanitized when you sanitize the rest of your water RV plumbing during your annual maintenance.

Of course there can be dead animals, build-up of soap and scum in traps, etc. However, once we identified the water heater as a culprit and started sanitizing it we have had no more issues other than more obvious onions stuck in strainer, etc.

I just noticed @UTTransplant advised a method of plumbing sanitation. Good advice - follow you manual.

 

[Wmlunt-WO]

I found the Purogene water sanitizer to work better in shorter amount of time with only a single rinse needed, no bleach smell, for yearly sanitization.

 

[CamperAL]

One other thing that can cause smelly water, some campground water is any thing but clean and drinkable. Perhaps you filled up at one of those bad water campgrounds and it contaminated your fresh water. I'd sanitize your tank and lines, refill from a clean source and then check your water again.

We now always check the water before we put anything into our system.

Agree it could be a dead animal got into the system.

 

[DutchmenSport]

Does your camper have a washing machine / dryer hook up? Do you have a washer / dryer. If the answer is yes and then no, it's possible the dead-stale water sitting in the washing machine lines, that never gets flushed, is causing the odor.

If the problem is ONLY 1 faucet, then it's problem is something connected to that one line of pipe only also. If the washing machine pipe is at the dead-end and never flow because there is no washing machine, then attach a hose to the washing machine faucets and stretch it out the door or window of the camper. Turn on the faucets and run some water.

If you have a washing machine but have not used it in a while, same thing ... run the washing machine to flush out the unused water line.

More than likely, the water line T-s before the shower. One line goes to the shower, the other to the bathroom sink. That section of pipe is always flushed because of the shower AFTER the T.

After the shower is probably another T that goes to the washing machine. If water never flows from that point onward, when running the shower it's vacuum sucking the dead water back into the shower. Simple solution.... flush out the washing machine line if you have one and it's not been used.

Edit: Same thing for your low-point drains. Open them and run some water out, flush out the dead-water that's been sitting. Also, outside shower if you have one and it's not been used in a while. Flush out the dead-end lines. Simple, costs nothing but time, and may solve your problem.

 

[woof-n]

Ohiosnowbird

If you owned this camper for a while and the problem just popped up a year ago. What changed since it was fine? I am hearing hot water heater, plumbing fixtures, pump, pressure boost, water Did you add a storage tank for higher pressure and volume?

what type of pipe was used?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Smelly hot water nearly always means the heater & the rest of the water system needs to be sanitized. The smell comes from a bacteria that exudes H2S (hydrogen sulfide, aka rotten egg odor). Drain the heater tank or run water from a hot faucet down the drain until the odor is gone or minimal. THEN follow the sanitize procedure. Download it here if you don't already know how to do it.

Water System Sanitizing

The first sign of a contaminated water system is usually a bad taste, followed by strange odors emanating from the water supply. Bacteria may have built up in the water tank. Written by Gary Brink.

www.rvforum.net

You need to sanitize the whole RV fresh water system to make sure the smelly bacteria is eliminated. Otherwise the odor will come back in a few days or weeks.

The above procedure uses unscented chlorine bleach and is entirely safe when used in the recommended amounts. It will not damage the plumbing. But if you prefer, there are alternate procedures using hydrogen peroxide or other sanitizers. Google will find those alternatives if you like.

 

[TheBar]

I’ll run that by him. We just replaced the entire shower, new plumbing where we could get to. New shower head, hose, faucets. It is really making us crazy.

If bleach doesn't work, the shower head is the most restrictive point in the shower plumbing. It may have gotten "biological material" of some kind in it. Take the shower head off and see if the smell still comes out. If so, backtrack from there as if it were an electrical issue. Take off the hose and see if the smell still comes out. Then the faucets, etc.

 

[tlmgcamp1]

In my unit I winterize and disinfect when dewinterizing via the winterize hose. This hose bypasses the pipes between the city fill and the pump so I blow out via the city connection as part of winterizing. I also disinfect my water supply hose every season with a little stronger mix by clamping both ends on a 5' step ladder and filling it with a pitcher until I see that the entire hose is full. Rather than dump the hose when done, I connect to the city connection and run it for a couple seconds to disinfect that last piece of the system. I have yet to use the on board tank.

What I am getting at is your disinfection process might not be getting to a piece of the city feed

 

[Kirk]

I have had that experience a few times and the answer has always been the same. As both Domo and Gary have said, the problem is algae in your water system. A rotten egg odor in your hot water is almost always caused by hydrogen sulfide gas. This happens when naturally occurring sulfur bacteria react with the water.

To sanitize your RV water system, follow these steps:

Flush the System: Start by draining the freshwater tank and flushing the system with clean water to remove any debris.

Prepare Sanitizing Solution: Mix a sanitizing solution using unscented household bleach (1/4 cup per 15 gallons of water).

Fill the Tank: Fill the freshwater tank with the sanitizing solution and run the water through the water heater and all faucets until you smell bleach.

Let it Sit: Allow the solution to sit in the system for at least 4 hours to effectively kill bacteria,

Flush Again: After the waiting period, drain the tank and flush the system with clean water until the bleach smell is gone

The water should now be safe to drink but if the chlorine odor is too strong you can add a mixture of 1/2 cup of baking soda and a gallon of water to the freshwater tank, repeat the freshwater flush.

 

[RV_Lee122]

Vinegar the hot water heater and sanitize the fresh water system. 1/4 cup of bleach for every 15 gallons isnt going to harm anything. Fill fresh tank with the solution, then run all taps (and shower!) until you smell bleach. Then let it sit for 5-6 hours, then dump and rinse out.

 

[John From Detroit]

Vinegar the hot water heater and sanitize the fresh water system. 1/4 cup of bleach for every 15 gallons isnt going to harm anything. Fill fresh tank with the solution, then run all taps (and shower!) until you smell bleach. Then let it sit for 5-6 hours, then dump and rinse out.

I like that yes there is a bacteria that likes hot water. Don't much care for vinegar (or chlorine) but it likes hot water and it stinks.

 

[tlmgcamp1]

Following up on my earlier post, I wonder if I can McGuyver a container that I can dump a bleach mix into, hook a compressor to and have control of the flow to disinfect the city connection. The volume of a hose doesn't leave much room for error

 

[SargeW]

Something like this would work. A drill operated siphon pump with a hose thread on each end. 750 GPH Drill Pump

$18 at Harbor Freight, and a drill motor. Mix up the bleach mixture in a bucket, put one end from the drill pump, attach the other end to the faucet. It pumps as fast or slow as you need. I used to use one to pump out my spa to clean it out. Cheap and easy.