sorry kristen, hope you weren’t feeling ignored. lets see, im not sure if you’ve gotten the right advice. if your annode rod in the water heater is the culprit, the water from my experience gets a sulfery or rotten egg smell, it’s nasty! but this is normally found by people who have not run water for months, then got home. they usually think theres a gas leak in the home. if you need a softener in your town maybe the city also chlorinates. a small amount of chlorene smells kinda dusty or stale to me, and can easily be removed with a cuno activated carbon/dirt,rust filter. is it possible that your softener was used when you bought it and its growing bacteria? do you smell this in your neighbors water? are you on a well that needs chlorinated? have you tried by-passing your softener for a few days to see if the smell goes away? in my opinion, chasing phantom smells is one of us plumbers most challenging situations,you will have to consider EVERY possible source and find a way to check it……… good luck! jack