smell coming from cold water faucets and only from two

Do you know if the house was built using PEX tubing for plumbing? or did they use copper pipe?

it is not copper
- at least what we can see. The tubing in the basement is red and blue plastic - I'm assuming that is probably PEX?

*nods* Blue tubing should be your cold water lines, red tubing should be hot water. That is a typical PEX install.

I think you'll find that they ran what are called "hone runs". That is, there is a seperate line running from the basement to each faucet in the house.

Whoever did the plumbing may have used a sealant on the PEX line from the basement to your bathroom faucet and that may be what you are smelling.

Since each faucet has it's own line that would be the only faucet you'd smell it on. And since you said it goes away after a few minutes I'd guess that is due to the water that has absorbed any sealant being flushed through the line at that point.

Your only real choices are to call the builder and complain in the hopes that they'll fix it, pay for a plumber to replace the line yourself or live with it.

smell coming from cold water faucets and only from two
The smell is a rotten egg smell. Do sealants smell like this? The cold water line for the sinks in the Master Bath is also the same water line to the tub... from the basement

That's hydrogen sulfide. You have your own well? H2S is pretty common in groundwater. http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/housing/356-488/356-488.html

smell coming from cold water faucets and only from two
okkkkkkkkkk, but only in the master bath sink faucets???? Wouldn't we be smelling this all over the house? At least in the other fixtures in the master bath? Fixtures are made of the exact same material as sink fixture and have the same water line connection. Plus, had water tested and no mention of that in our well water. Our plumbers do not know what this is (or so they say)............anyone????

Re: smell coming from cold water faucets and only from two


Sealants can end up smelling like almost anything but if, as you say, the tub is fed from the same line than the problem is something else.

I can't of any other explaination for your problem.

Babsy, did they test for H2S? I can't explain why it's only in two faucets. Could be what fishin's been saying, could be the configuration of your piping that is allowing H2S, which is a gas, to collect in some piping and not in others. If you have a private well, check with the well contractor or the permitting agency for assistance.

smelly cold water out of sink faucets & no where else
Thanks. Anyone else?

My best guess is they did something different in the master bath when they connected the cold water line to the pipes for the sinks......we did have the wall moved out (someone measured wrong) maybe an ext. pipe was used that has a material that might be interacting with the cold water? Or maybe a dip in the line where water is sitting stagnating for a bit? I am brain storming here, any suggestions, anyone?

BBB
Is there any possibility that you may have a dead rodent in your line?

BBB

The type of plumbing has nothing to do with the cause of the odor, which is bacteria, probably due to the use of the carbon filter. Carbon is a great medium to grow bacteria in/on. What is the reason you have the carbon filter?

Bacteria contaminated faucet tip aerators can cause this. Remove them and put them in a capful of bleach in a glass of water for 20 minutes. Also hold up a glass with some bleach in it so the tip less faucet end is in the water in the glass. Hold there as long as possible. Plug the sink drains so as to not lose pieces of the aerators. Rinse the aerators well to stop the bleach from damaging them or the seals and reinstall.

Remove the carbon cartridge and fill the sump with non scented regular bleach and run that to all faucets. Smell the cold water from each faucet until you smell bleach in the water and shut off that faucet and go to the next. When smelling for bleach, bend over to the glass as water goes into it as opposed to lifting the glass to your nose and having the smell go away from you. Flush the toilets. Run hot water at one faucet for 30 seconds and shut it off. Wait 10-15 minutes and run cold water at each faucet for a fast count of 10 and shut it off Repeat that 3-4 times and then flush all faucets of bleach water and see if the odor returns. If so, then the faucet tips are still contaminated and need to be sanitized again and prevented from being recontaminated.

If after you bleach everything the smell returns, contact me and I will suggest a solution.

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is a dissolved gas that gives water a characteristic "rotten egg" taste and odor.
H2S often occurs naturally in well water or can be caused by the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria in a well or water system.

If there was naturally occurring H2S gas in the water, they'd be smelling it at all fixtures or at least in the hot water, not just these two sinks.

H2S is also caused by other reducing/related forms of bacteria such as iron (IRB) and manganese (MRB). Any/all of them are large groups of non harmful bacteria but all can produce gas. They can colonize a well or water lines, softeners/filters and such. Yoiu must kill them if they are a problerm and you can not use UV lights to do that. Hydrogen peroxide is not a good choice for control of any of the three types.

smell
No, not dead rodents.

Not the carbon filter either, because we started with the plain white micron filters and then switched to a carbon, no change in smell or any chemicals found in the water. It was tested before and after using a carbon filter.

I think the bleach idea appears to be the most viable at this point. H2S sounds like a very strong possibility in the cold water pipe and/or faucets, just seems strange that only those two are affected and at approx. the same time. We flushed all the lines out with just the well water and the smell has gone away............but I am willing to bet if we don't bleach, it will be back after the first month or two as before. Read somewhere that it is very difficult to get rid of iron bacteria once you have it.......keeps coming back. Was wondering if anyone else out there has had a similar problem and was able to get rid of it permanently with bleach solution.

Does anyone know if this is also why people use an airator? (not sure of spelling or correct terminology) type system.

smell
Thanks Gary and everyone else who helped us figure out this disgusting problem. Brushing my teeth in the morning will be more fun without gagging on the smell coming from my faucets!

Reducing types of bacteria live in the earth and some require air and some don't; aerobic and anerobic. That's why we can't get rid of them, they come back with the water.

Carbon removes organics from the water, bacteria eat/live on organics. So carbon is an excellent place for bacteria to grow and thrive.

You probably have contaminated faucet tips. Otherwise you'd smell the odor in/at all faucets.

You should have a Coliform bacteria test done on your water.

Just been through all this,had put in new kitchen faucet, several months later i got the rotton egg smell, bleached well several times.
Well is very good clear water, even put filters on it.
Well, found the problem, i took braded plastic hose off cold water and changed it back to copper.
Dump those plastic lines if you have your own well, there for city clorinated water.
Trust me i've done everything possible, but when the rest of the house was no problem with copper, i should have known.
This is only needed on cold water line

Hey Jwt... which lines exactly are you talking about? We have the blue and red lines all through our house. The 3 faucets we smell this odor on have 4 lines underneath the counter. 2 white/translucent lines and 2 of the metal braided/shielded lines.

Thanks in advance!

hey babsy.. almost exact same situation here. we moved in early november of 2013 and just started smelling this smell in our 2 sinks in the master, as well as the 1 sink in our kids bathroom. cold water only. starts stinking 10/15 seconds into running it and goes away after several minutes. we have cheap delta faucets that, when you look under the sink, have 4 lines... 2 covered in that braided metal shielding and 2 translucent/plastic lines.

what exactly did you do to correct this?

thank you so much.