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stinky ice, sulfur smell from ice maker.

  • Thread starter Thread starter MarioG
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MarioG

MarioG

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Apr 12, 2005
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  1. OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
Hatteras Model
58' YACHT FISHERMAN (1970 - 1981)
I changed it's dedicated charcoal filter and defrosted and washed out the inside. It's pissing me off and stinking up my cocktail.
What am I missing?
 
Switch to a better grade of scotch?



Is your icemaker the under counter U-Line style or is it inside your refrigerator?

Every year when I get on board I dump the full tanks of water I left the season before to give the boat weight for hurricanes as well as a source of emergency water for my boat caretakers. Don't turn on the hot water heater yet because it's best to treat this too. Then I fill my three tanks, each nearly 100 gallons, adding two cups of a new bottle of Clorox (it goes bad)to the first 100 gallon tank, two cups to the middle and two cups to the aft tank. Fill to overflowing to get chlorine everywhere. While this sits in the tanks I go below and remove my full-system activated carbon filter. It needs at least an annual change but if I left it there it would remove all the Cl. Pull any other charcoal filters in line for the same reason. Now run cold water through the entire system, sinks, sink sprayers, showers, hose faucets, icemakers, dishwashers, deck washers etc. Run until you smell the Cl odor, then move to the next. Run cold water through your hot water tank until you get the same strong odor. If your tank was full you should displace all the old water. Flush these hot water lines as well. Then you can turn every faucet on (or, alternating the faucets, as many as can successfully be pumped and run the complete water tankage through. If you have more than one fresh water pump be sure to run the Cl through each one because every inch of hot or cold water line needs to stay in contact with the Cl for 20 minutes or so.

After all the Clorox water is gone, refill the tanks and rinse out each faucet, water line and the hot water heater, which you can now turn on. Replace all activated charcoal filters with new as I suspect these can grow all kinds of stuff.

Last time I checked no municipal water in the Bahamas was chlorinated. We used to add our own at a rate of, I think, a tablespoon a gallon into our tanks. I attribute my shiny white teeth to this to this day. Our children grew up a little strange so when the grandchildren started appearing I put in an RO watermaker and all is well. I haven't used local water out of the USA since.

Don't run Cl through your watermaker as it is said to ruin the membranes.
 
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We have that same horrible stink from our water which is well water and it's worse when it rains a lot , charcoal filters don't touch it and I think re kindle the stink and as Jim said Clorox is the only way to deal with it . I'm actually thinking of running my dock water thru the water maker before dumping it into the tank . A couple valves and it's done ....easy, sure another 10 minute job ! 😀....Pat
 
It's an under counter ice maker on the aft deck. I'm using the marina water connected to the boat's dockside main supply . This stinky ice started not too long ago. Don't know what to do. :(
 
Not sure about your water but when ever anyone uses a regular garden hose with black rubber interior cause the water sitting in the hose to smell like rotten eggs. Whenever you use a hose always use a RV/Boat white hose. It does not smell if water stands in the hose. Good luck.
 
SEVEN said:
Not sure about your water but when ever anyone uses a regular garden hose with black rubber interior cause the water sitting in the hose to smell like rotten eggs. Whenever you use a hose always use a RV/Boat white hose. It does not smell if water stands in the hose. Good luck.
Click to expand...

You might be on to something with reference to the hose.
 
Once I switched to the RV white hose the egg smell went away. That was years ago and we were also on a well.
 
The green hoses I've seen have "not for potable water" on them.
 
Boatsb said:
The green hoses I've seen have "not for potable water" on them.
Click to expand...

There's you're SIGN :D

Always use the hose that says for water.
 
The correct hose sounds like the best advice. Rubber is often vulcanized using sulfur, ergo the sulfur source for the rotten egg odor. Also keep the charcoal filters clean/refreshed. They breed a smelly organic slime, especially in a warm environment.

Bobk
 
It's the hose! My marina neighbor had exactly the same thing happen all of a sudden. He kept asking me if I was noticing the bad marina water but I had to respond I was not. He changed his green garden hose to a white potable water hose...issue gone!

Re Clorox - I empty the water tanks for winterizing. Then, in the spring I put in some clorox for the first tank fillup. - about a cup for the 287 gal FW capacity. After that tank is used, I don't use clorox any more. We use only water from the tanks so it is turned over very frequently.
 
bobk said:
The correct hose sounds like the best advice. Rubber is often vulcanized using sulfur, ergo the sulfur source for the rotten egg odor. Also keep the charcoal filters clean/refreshed. They breed a smelly organic slime, especially in a warm environment.

Bobk
Click to expand...


In reference to the filter I have seen the water get stinky after the filter on boats if not used often enough. The charcoal filter removes the chlorine so it goes nasty if not used for a period of time. Like a month or so Mario won't have that problem :cool:
But I figured I would let everyone know that one.
 
I also put bleach in the tank at the beginning of the season. I usually will let it sit in the tank for a week or so and drain and refill. I never leave the hose connected to the boat. Never a problem with water smell.
 
Clean the interior of those white hoses every couple of months with some Clorox too. Lots of green algae will grow in them when out in the sunlight.
 
The hose does say "lead free drinking water safe " but it does look like rubber on the inside. I'll change the hose and report back.
 
Also, to be clear, the smell only manifests itself in the ice. Not out of any of the faucets.
 
Is all the plumbing to the ice maker the original copper or is there some "rubber" hose involved? That could cause the problem as well.

Of course, ice picks up odors from air in a freezer unit. Have you cleaned out the ice maker thoroughly?
 
MikeP said:
Is all the plumbing to the ice maker the original copper or is there some "rubber" hose involved? That could cause the problem as well.

Of course, ice picks up odors from air in a freezer unit. Have you cleaned out the ice maker thoroughly?
Click to expand...

All the plumbing is factory copper. I defrosted the ice maker and hosed out the unit. Perhaps I'll try again and bleach the unit inside. If it doesn't work, I'll change the newly installed hose for a white RV one.
 
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