Smelly hot water . Why?

[Chris Pickering]

Just recently when I run the hot water it has started to smell why is this and how do I go about sorting it.
We have an old baxi boiler with a water tank in the airing cupboard.

 

[Riley]

What did it smell of? Has the property been vacant for some time? Has anything changed? Have you had any work done?

 

[Darren Jackson]

Check for dead birds or vermin in the header tank. Clean your header tank & flush out the pipework,make sure it has a tight fitting lid, good insulation around it to keep it cool in warmer months to help stop bacterial growth and also to stop it freezing up in the colder months. and make sure it has a filter on the overflow outlet with a dip tube to stop insects from getting into the tank via the overflow pipe. Also keep the stored water at 60*C and make sure the cylinder insulation jacket is properly fitted.

 

[Stigster]

Very good advice from Darren here. Just for OP's information, if your tank doesn't have the components as suggested by Darren, you need to buy a "Byelaw 30 Kit" which contains all these things.

 

[Svenedin]

Definitely check what temperature the hot water is set to. Should be 60 C. It seems to be popular to reduce the hot water temperature for eco/economy reasons but if you store water in a cylinder it can provide a lovely warm environment for bacteria to grow. Some of those bacteria are just a nuisance (sludgy biofilms to block pipes) but some can be highly dangerous to health especially when sprayed through a shower head to make a nice aerosol to breathe in. 60 C is too hot for the germs. If you have elderly/infirm in the house and are worried they might scald themselves with 60 C water you can install mixers with anti-scald functions (e.g modern shower mixers, thermostatic bath fillers).

 

[EvilDrPorkChop]

Could be a pin ***** in the coil and HW mixing with CH water. Had that before.

 

[gary goon]

I would check tank in loft had a customer last year all their water smelt apart from mains.when I went in loft there was a dead squirrel float in tank.nice they'd been washing and brushing teeth in that water

 

[Burger]

I would check tank in loft had a customer last year all their water smelt apart from mains.when I went in loft there was a dead squirrel float in tank.nice they'd been washing and brushing teeth in that water

 

[Chris Pickering]

Just a quick and final update.
I went in loft to check and the lid on the tank had somehow slipped and there was a dead bird in there. How a bird had got in my loft I have no idea but at least I've got to to bottom of the smell.
Thanks guys.

 

[Burger]

Just a quick and final update.
I went in loft to check and the lid on the tank had somehow slipped and there was a dead bird in there. How a bird had got in my loft I have no idea but at least I've got to to bottom of the smell.
Thanks guys.

You might want to clean the tank out and replenish the water.