I have a 40 gal electric water heater that's about 10 years old. Last year showers were quickly turning cold so I replaced the lower heating element. That fixed the problem. A month or so ago I started getting a brief spurt of cold water when taking a shower, lasting 1-2 seconds. So yesterday I tested the upper element with a meter. It tested OK. I then went to test the newer [U]lower[/U] element and found a little bit of water and corrosion on the inside of the lower hatch cover. There was also slime that I washed off. The outer side of the insulation was moist with small spots of water damage. The symptoms are on the OUTSIDE face of the insulation, not the side facing the element, so I don't think I screwed down the new gasket too much or too little when replacing that element. Any ideas on where the water is coming from? Recent weather here has been abnormally hot but there are no signs of condensation on the utility room pipes. Thanks.

Could use some advice on this one. Bought an older house at the end of June, loving the place but I knew things needed to be replaced. While on the walk through I didn't notice the smell and it's not mentioned on the inspection. I am on city water, however it's a very small town (less then 1k population). I asked the 4 neighbors that I know and all of them use some sort of house filtration system and have used that for years so can't recall if this was an issue with the city water or not. I currently just have a water softener. I get an egg/sulfur odor whenever I turn on the hot and cold water. However, when I use the hot water it's much more strong/pungent smell. I'm wondering if it smells on cold water because there is residue (or something?) still left there from the hot water. The smell with the cold water can sometimes be so mild that I often wonder if I smelled it the last time or not. When it comes to the hot water, no doubt, 100% all the time, on all facets, smell. My water heater is a Richmond 6G40-36F with a manufacturer date of 05/2004. I've been searching online to try to find out what kind of rod was used in these heaters but haven't found if a magnesium rod was used or not. If the rod was never switched out, would it even matter what type of rod was used at this point? So my question that I need advice on is, based on the information above, what are the chances that this is just a rod that needs replacing?