Water Heater Repair and Installation in Marietta, GA

Your nose can be a surprisingly good diagnostic tool when water heater repair is on the horizon. In Marietta homes, what an odor means depends on where you notice it, in the water or in the air, and on whether the heater runs on gas, on electricity or heats on demand.

Telling the three types apart

Gas tanks send exhaust up a pipe out the top and have a gas valve and burner at the bottom. Electric tanks have no vent, just a cable feeding the top and covered elements on the side. Tankless heaters hang on a wall and heat water only while it flows. For repairs by type, see gas water heaters in Marietta, electric water heater repair and tankless water heater service.

Hot water that smells like rotten eggs

When the smell comes only from hot taps and the cold water smells fine, the heater is the usual source. Bacteria in the water can react with the magnesium anode rod inside a tank and give off hydrogen sulfide. Flushing the tank and fitting an anode made of a different alloy often clears it up. Unpleasant as it is, this is a water problem, not a gas leak.

A gas smell in the air near the heater

Utilities add an odorant to natural gas that smells like sulfur, so an odor hanging in the air around a gas heater, rather than coming out of the tap, has to be treated as a possible leak. Do not flip switches, relight the pilot or hunt for the source. Leave the house and call the gas utility or 911 once you are outside. When the utility says it is safe, our emergency plumbing service in Marietta can look at the heater.

Burning or electrical smells

A brand-new heater may give off a faint smell the first few times it fires as factory residue burns off. A strong hot-plastic odor from an electric tank is another matter and can mean an overheated wire connection at an element or thermostat; switch off its breaker and leave the covers closed. Soot or scorch marks around a gas burner door point to a combustion or venting problem, so turn the gas control off. If the tank is also leaking, close the cold-water valve that feeds it.

City limits, county jurisdiction and permits

Confirm who has jurisdiction first. The city's homeowner permit page explains that a county parcel record showing tax district (4) MARIETTA puts a property inside the city, while (9) UNINCORPORATED means Cobb County is in charge. Inside the city, the building division requires a plumbing permit for work on a plumbing system, and the homeowner page says plumbing permits are applied for by the professional doing the work rather than by the owner.

Questions about water heater odors in Marietta

Can a water softener make the hot water smell worse?

It can. Softened water can speed up the reaction between the anode rod and sulfates in the water, so some homes notice the odor soon after a softener goes in. Swapping a magnesium anode for an aluminum-zinc or powered anode, along with a flush, often helps. If the cold water smells too, the cause lies in the supply rather than the heater.

Why does the smell seem to come from only one sink?

When only one fixture smells, the drain is a more likely source than the heater. A sink drain can give off a sewer-like odor that seems to come from the water itself, so fill a glass, step away from the sink and smell it there. If the water in the glass is fine, the drain, its trap or a seldom-used fixture nearby is the place to look.

Call about a smell

Something smells off around the heater? Call Alpha Plumbing and Sewer at (404) 409-4448 for a diagnosis. You can also read about water heater service across Georgia.