Well, I did drain the water heater back in 2002, and I think once since then, but not a lot has ever come out.
The 50 gallon is a Montgomery Ward model. It has a mfg date of 1977 so I figure it's been in service here for the past 32 years. Perhaps it is better made than they are now, I don't know. The fact that the anode rod was still good after 25 years though indicates to me that the water here is relatively innocuous. Not acid, that is, and not with a lot of hardness.
The thing does bump a bit when heating, but flushing it doesn't resolve that. I suspect the inlet tube has deteriorated. I have a new one I've been planning on installing, but since that would involve taking apart the cold water line (it's rigid galvanized steel) which comes with its own set of surprises, I've been putting it off until I replace all the steel with copper. At which point I might just install a new water heater anyway.
A neighbor sold his house and replaced the six year old water heater (with a six year warranty) just before that. He was going to throw it out but I asked for it. With some difficulty I was able to remove the anode rod, and it was in relatively good shape. So that corroborates my hunch that the water here tends to let water heaters last longer than expected.
The 50 gallon is a Montgomery Ward model. It has a mfg date of 1977 so I figure it's been in service here for the past 32 years. Perhaps it is better made than they are now, I don't know. The fact that the anode rod was still good after 25 years though indicates to me that the water here is relatively innocuous. Not acid, that is, and not with a lot of hardness.
The thing does bump a bit when heating, but flushing it doesn't resolve that. I suspect the inlet tube has deteriorated. I have a new one I've been planning on installing, but since that would involve taking apart the cold water line (it's rigid galvanized steel) which comes with its own set of surprises, I've been putting it off until I replace all the steel with copper. At which point I might just install a new water heater anyway.
A neighbor sold his house and replaced the six year old water heater (with a six year warranty) just before that. He was going to throw it out but I asked for it. With some difficulty I was able to remove the anode rod, and it was in relatively good shape. So that corroborates my hunch that the water here tends to let water heaters last longer than expected.
