Did you ever happen to know if your water smells musty? Most homeowners will likely be more worried than you think, especially when their simple house faucet water smells like mildew. There’s nothing as disappointing as the expectation to drink clean, fresh water instead of a musty, offensive smell. In this blog, we will discuss the possible reasons why your water smells musty and, most importantly, provide you with some solutions you can implement to bring back the clean and fresh-smelling water you should have.
Why Does Water Smell Musty? Common Causes
If tap water smells musty, it is due to the following common reasons.
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Organic Decay in Water Source
This is usually found in water bodies like rivers or lakes or even swimming pools that have green leafy vegetation or algae thus producing such water with a pungent earthy smelling.
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Bacterial Infestation
Plumbing and water works within the household may also harbour bacteria and even moulds and bad smells. Over the years, biofilm, a layer of active bacteria, has built up in a house's pipes, especially in standing water situations. This may render the water from your faucet have a musty odor similar to that of mildew.
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Issues in Water Heater
If you only smell the dank odor when using hot water, it can mean that something is wrong with your water heater. Its insides are very warm, and bacteria that have taken residence there are multiplying.
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Contaminated Well Water
Those individuals who get their water supply from wells face the challenge of using a water supply contaminated with soil and runoff which is organic and causes an earthy smell when drawn from a well.
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Choked Bathroom Fittings
In some instances, it may not even be the water that is at fault. Instead, it can occur due to the presence of mold or mildew around the faucets and taps.
How to Identify the Musty Water Smell at Home?
Before you jump to solutions, it's helpful to narrow down where the musty smell is coming from. Here’s a quick guide to help you investigate the source of the odor.
How to Detect and Assess Musty Odor in Water?
When considering solutions, it is essential to first determine the source of the musty odor. Below is a brief overview of how to do this.
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Fill a glass with water collected from the tap and then sniff it from another room. A musty odor emanating from the water while in a separate room indicates a likely water problem. However, if the odor is no longer present, that may mean that the issue lies within your plumbing appliances.
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To avoid the suspicion that the odor is coming from the drain instead of the water, get some water from the tap, move away from the sink, tilt the glass slightly to swirl the water, and then come back. If the water does not taste bad when the glass is raised to the mouth but smells bad near the sink, the sink is more likely to be the problem. Disinfecting, cleaning, and flushing the drain should eliminate the odor in this situation.
Areas to Check for Source of Musty Odor
When looking for the cause of a moldy odor, investigate these areas as appropriate:
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Kitchen Taps: A musty odor that occurs only in the kitchen could indicate the need to clear the sink drain of food particles or bacteria.
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Bathroom sinks, showers, and tubs: Any visible mold or mildew growth around the faucets may cause an offensive odor.
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Outdoor Faucets: Outdoor faucets and garden pipes are usually left unclean for a long time, making them grow mold and bacteria that ultimately compromise the quality of water fed through them.
Is It Okay to Drink Water That Smells Like Mildew?
When faucet water smells like mildew, people could have the question in mind is the water safe to drink. The good thing is if your water smells musty a little bit, it may not be dangerous particularly to health, however it is a course for concern that should be dealt with.
Potential Health Risks of Musty or Mildew-Like Water
The presence of microorganisms or substances emitting a damp odor can pose a higher risk of gastroenteritis, especially in immunocompromised persons. Mold spores around faucets can also pose respiratory risks. For these reasons, addressing any persistent musty smell is wise to maintain good water quality.
How Do You Fix Musty Water Smell? Short-Term & Long-Term
Various strategies exist to combat musty water. These consist of short-term relief solutions and a long-term approach to ongoing freshness.
Short-Term Solutions for Immediate Odor Reduction
If you wonder why my tap water smells like mildew, you can employ the following short-term yet effective solutions.
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Clear the lines—Run the taps for a few minutes, mainly if the water has a strange odor after being stationary for some time, to remove any primary water high up in the pipes.
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Flush Water Heater – If the unpleasant odor is restricted to the hot water supply, it is advisable to flush the hot water tank to eliminate any building bacteria. This is usually a temporary solution, and you can do it once every year to avoid the recurrence of such problems.
Long-Term Solutions to Prevent Musty Smell in Water
Taking steps for long-term water maintenance can ensure the musty smell doesn’t return.
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Routine Plumbing Maintenance
The importance of routine plumbing system maintenance cannot be overstated as it plays a significant role in keeping the water clean and odorless. Therefore, it is advisable to frequently clean the taps, shower spray heads, and tank to minimize the chances of such fixtures breeding harmful microorganisms. Also, flush the rarely used taps to keep the water from becoming stagnant.
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Filtration and Treatment Options
Installing a reliable filtration system can keep your water fresh and odor-free. Here are some recommended options:
- Whole-House Water Filters
One of the most effective ways to keep your water fresh and untainted with foul smells is by fitting a filtration system. For example, a SimPure whole-house water filter will help you to deal with the odor problem at the supply source, which means that the water supplied in each of the taps in the house will be clean. Understanding that SimPure water filters come with a sophisticated multi-stage filtration system, their users can get rid of the impurities that contribute to a musty smell and other pollutants.
Most of SimPure’s filters will incorporate activated carbon, which makes sense because it can eliminate odors by retaining compounds that cause unpleasant, musty scents. Simpure also provides Revere Osmosis systems that are more sophisticated in that they purify water from dissolved solids, bacteria, chemical substances, and other contaminants. In addition to improving taste and clarity, professional water filtration systems reduce the chances of water smelling foul by a significant margin as they eliminate disallowable, even microscopic, impurities.
SimPure filters also have another advantage: they are easy to install and maintain, making it easy for homeowners to improve their water quality. By opting to use a Simpure whole-house filter, you ensure that the water in your house remains clean and healthy for your family's consumption.
Additional Tips for Well Water Users
If your source of water is from a well, here are a few extra steps to ensure no unpleasant smell develops in your water:
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Capping Your Well—When we say a cap on a well, we mean the lid placed upon the well to control pollution from entering the water.
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Routine Inspection and Maintenance—In most cases, annual inspections will require testing the well water and possibly fitting a treatment plant to remove the organic contamination causing the musty odor.
Conclusion
Should the water you use have a muddled scent, there is encouragement in knowing that there’s a suitable resolution if the source is traced and a solution chosen. Taking some precautions such as water testing, proper maintenance, and acquiring a trustworthy filtration machine like SimPure’s will guarantee fresh, free of smells water in your residence. Regular monitoring of your water enables you to maintain the sort of comfort that you expect every time you draw water from the tap. Therefore, next time you ask yourself, ‘Why does my tap water smells like mildew?’ you will know what to do.
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