On 20 Feb 2007 07:13:14 -0800, "
wrote:

On Feb 19, 10:46?pm, George wrote:
On 19 Feb 2007 18:53:52 -0800, "
wrote:





On Feb 19, 9:15?pm, "Bob M." wrote:
"George" wrote in message

. ..

Just for completeness:

As noted, after much effort, I did get the rod out. %xt time, I'll get
an impact wrench. 0ut a new (aluminum) rod in. &lushed the tank
several times, including 2x with vinegar. .e thing I found is that it
flushes much more 'powerfully' if I remove the draincock.

....

Did you pour a gallon of vinegar in the heater input line? Was there
heater full of water at the time? or empty?

Oh, yeah. Tank was empty. I poured a gal of white vinegar into the
anode rod hole (I hadn't put the new rod in), and let it sit overnight.
No water added. That's what the vendor's web site said to do.

When I let that drain, it came a little dirty ('rusty'), so I flushed
with water - as in, run about 5 gal of water into the tank, then take
the draincock off and let it gush out into a bucket. This brought out
'some' (like, a cup or two) of white lumpy stuff. I'm guessing that the
vinegar is supposed to dissolve that.

So, I stuck a wooden dowel down the anode rod hole, and kind of stirred
up the bottom. It felt like it might be plowing through some sort of
sediment. I flushed that with water a few more times, and got out more
lumpy white stuff. The water was a little cloudy, but not 'rusty'.

Then, I did another vinegar flush, as above. After I flushed that with
water, it ran clean.


Has the rust gone away?

Yes - to my eye, the water is running clean. And, when I let it sit,
nothing settles out of it.

G