My water smells like rotten eggs
Find out where the smell is before you buy anything, because the two likely causes have completely different fixes and one of them costs twenty dollars.
What actually works
**Hot water only?** It's the magnesium anode rod in your water heater reacting with sulfate-reducing bacteria. Swap it for an aluminium-zinc rod — that's the twenty-dollar fix. **Both hot and cold?** It's in the well or the plumbing.
Often clears bacterial sulfide for a season or more. It is a recurring chore rather than a cure, and it does nothing if the source is geological.
The durable answer for persistent sulfide and iron: aerate to oxidise, then filter the particles out. Catalytic carbon or a greensand filter depending on the numbers.
Hydrogen sulfide is a nuisance, not usually a hazard — while nitrate, arsenic and coliform are hazards you cannot smell at all. **Clear and odourless is not clean.** Get a lab test.
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sulfur smell water · stinky well water · hydrogen sulfide · water smells bad · metallic taste water · rusty orange staining · iron in water