Well, had the black Friday off, so I decided the most interesting thing to do, after getting one of my cars smogged, would be to drain the water heater and check the anode rod.
Draining went ok, but slow... but then it has to traverse a 100 ft garden hose with gravity feed only... things got more interesting when I pulled the rod.
First it gave off a menacing hiss, which surprised me. Then it had some resistance to being pulled out. Gradually it revealed its secret: it was covered with a thick layer of white powdery mineral deposit... like wet salt... the rod probably has a few years left in it, but the accumulation of mineral precipitate prompted me to pull the new anode rod from the spare water heater and install it in the old one. The encrusted anode rod also was starting to split up at the top, and I didn't want to risk having large chunks falling off and causing more burping at the bottom of the tank.
Not sure why there is all the mineral deposit on it. Haven't seen that before, but then this rod was a bit odd, in that it was so soft and bendable. Might be very pure aluminum or some odd alloy. The new rod is rigid and I doubt it will give the same result. OTOH, that the rod was accumulating the mineral deposits, might mean that they weren't accumulating on the sides of the tank, or being sent up into the house piping. Maybe.
It's a 50 gallon tank and takes a while to drain and fill. Did a partial drain, pulled the rod, put in new rod, filled it back up again, and am now doing another full drain. Then I'll turn on the cold water and force the bottom layer out through the drain valve again until it runs clear (might have to use a screen on the outlet to check) and then button up the water heater valves and fill it for one last time.
Picture of encrusted rod to follow...
Draining went ok, but slow... but then it has to traverse a 100 ft garden hose with gravity feed only... things got more interesting when I pulled the rod.
First it gave off a menacing hiss, which surprised me. Then it had some resistance to being pulled out. Gradually it revealed its secret: it was covered with a thick layer of white powdery mineral deposit... like wet salt... the rod probably has a few years left in it, but the accumulation of mineral precipitate prompted me to pull the new anode rod from the spare water heater and install it in the old one. The encrusted anode rod also was starting to split up at the top, and I didn't want to risk having large chunks falling off and causing more burping at the bottom of the tank.
Not sure why there is all the mineral deposit on it. Haven't seen that before, but then this rod was a bit odd, in that it was so soft and bendable. Might be very pure aluminum or some odd alloy. The new rod is rigid and I doubt it will give the same result. OTOH, that the rod was accumulating the mineral deposits, might mean that they weren't accumulating on the sides of the tank, or being sent up into the house piping. Maybe.
It's a 50 gallon tank and takes a while to drain and fill. Did a partial drain, pulled the rod, put in new rod, filled it back up again, and am now doing another full drain. Then I'll turn on the cold water and force the bottom layer out through the drain valve again until it runs clear (might have to use a screen on the outlet to check) and then button up the water heater valves and fill it for one last time.
Picture of encrusted rod to follow...
