Why Your Water Smells When You Come Home — The Real Reason Your Faucets, Sinks, or Showers Have Odors After Being Away
- Lisa Williams
- Jan 13
- 3 min read
What People Google When Water Smells After Returning Home
Most homeowners search for things like:
Why does my water smell after vacation?
My hot water smells like rotten eggs
Cold water smells metallic after being away
Sink smells when I turn on the faucet
Why does my condo water stink after months away?
Water smells musty when I come home
Small flies in sink after returning home
This guide answers all of these common concerns.
Why Your Water Smells When You Turn It On After Being Away
Florida’s heat + humidity + unused plumbing = odors. When water sits still, warm, and untouched inside your pipes for weeks or months, odor-causing reactions begin almost immediately.
Different smells mean different things:
1. Rotten Egg or Sulfur Smell (Usually From Hot Water)
If only your hot water smells, the cause is almost always inside the water heater.
Causes include:
Bacteria forming in stagnant warm water
Reaction with the anode rod
Water sitting for too long without circulation
What homeowners notice:
Strong sulfur smell
Rotten egg odor
Hot water smells worse than cold
Common fix:
Run the hot water for several minutes to flush the tank.
2. Metallic or Rusty Smell (Usually Cold Water First)
If the cold water smells:
Likely causes:
Sediment buildup in pipes
Minerals settling while unused
Stagnant water in condo plumbing stacks
Symptoms:
First 10–15 seconds smell metallic
Then the odor fades once fresh water flows
3. Sink Smells or Drain Odors When Water Runs
This is extremely common.
If the water doesn’t smell but the sink does, the issue is the drain, not the water.
Causes include:
Dry P-traps
Bacteria sitting in unused drains
Mold or mildew in the drain line
Sewer gas escaping until the trap refills
Fix:
Run the faucet 20–30 seconds to refill the trap and block the smell.
4. Musty, Old-Water, or “Closed House” Smells
If the entire home smells off when the water runs, you’re smelling a combination of:
Stagnant plumbing water
High interior humidity
Lack of AC airflow
Unused drains and pipes
This is extremely common in seasonal homes.
5. When Pipes Dry Out Completely — Drain Flies
This is where many homeowners panic — and rightfully so.
If your sinks, showers, or floor drains haven’t been used in weeks or months, the water in the P-traps evaporates. When this happens:
Sewer gases enter the home
Bacteria and organic material inside the pipes dry up
Drain flies (also called sewer flies) begin breeding inside the drain lines
They multiply and take over the home from the inside
These small black/gray flies come from:
Dry shower drains
Unused guest bathroom sinks
Floor drains in laundry rooms
Condo plumbing stacks
Why drain flies are a BIG problem:
They breed extremely fast
They live in the slime inside pipes
They often appear after returning home
They can spread throughout the entire house within days
This issue is VERY common in vacant Florida condos and homes — especially from May through October due to heat + humidity.
How homeowners usually solve it:
Running the sinks/showers to refill traps
Cleaning the drain areas
Running hot water through lines
Professional drain cleaning if severe
Why This Happens So Often in Florida Homes
Because of:
High heat
High humidity
Seasonal or vacant homes
Condo plumbing with shared stacks
Slow water movement in summer months
Homes left untouched for 30–180 days
Even luxury homes experience water odor and drain fly issues — it’s not about cleanliness, it’s about lack of use.
The Good News — Most Water Smells Are Temporary
Once you run the water, flush the drains, and refill traps, most odors clear within minutes.
Drain flies, if they developed, may require a bit more cleaning or drain treatment — but they are solvable.
How Home Watch Prevents This Entire Problem
Without going into detail about our internal process:
When your property is inspected regularly, the water in your plumbing system is never allowed to:
Stagnate
Evaporate
Dry out traps
Grow bacteria
Build sulfur compounds
Create metallic odors
Breed drain flies
Seasonal residents in Boca Raton and Palm Beach County choose Home Watch services specifically because this issue is extremely common, and it’s one of the things you never want to deal with when returning home.
With consistent oversight, you walk into a home that smells clean, fresh, and ready — not a home filled with odors or unexpected insects.
Final Thoughts
Bad-smelling water after returning home is a common and preventable issue in Florida homes and condos. Whether it’s sulfur, metallic, musty odors, or sudden drain flies, these problems happen simply because the home sat empty and unused.
The good news? With proper oversight, you never have to face these surprises again.
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