On Nov 29, 11:10 am, Harry K wrote:
On Nov 28, 7:23 pm, Nate Nagel wrote:
Harry K wrote:
On Nov 28, 6:19 pm, Nate Nagel wrote:
I agree with your comments, however I'd have to spin not only the
impact, but an air compressor, hose, portable tank, etc. by the finance
department... I can see it now "you just want that so you can use it on
your silly old car" (um, yeah? so? G)
nate
Steve Barker wrote:
get you a 1/2" pneumatic impact. yes, like the ones to take wheels off and
on. Turn the air down low (about 50 psi) and use a 6 point socket. Start
a rat a tatting on it, slowly turning up the air inthe process. It'll come
out. I woudn't worry about the tank bung itself. It's probably one of the
thickest parts of the tank.
steve
"Nate Nagel" wrote in message
...
How much torque can one apply to a fitting, say an anode screwed into a
hot water tank, before getting into the area where one needs to be
concerned about the integrity of the tank itself?
I suspect that it's new water heater time, or close to it, but I was
pleasantly surprised when I removed the anode from another tank of similar
age (in the same house) and found it well corroded but not so much that it
would indicate that it had been without protection for any length of time.
So I'd prefer to simply inspect this one, replace if indicated, and keep
on using it if I can, being a cheap bas^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hfrugal person.
I had a 18" long, 1/2" drive breaker bar on it and it was flexing to the
point where I was concerned about snapping the bar. (I may or may not
have been using an unapproved extension on said bar...) I have a beefier
3/4" drive bar but I'm wondering if a person of average or slightly more
than average strength can actually break the tank by doing this.
I've been pretty lucky so far, I've R&R'd two drain spigots, one T&P
valve, and one anode without busting anything, as well as R&Ring the
spigot and anode on a one year old tank in the garage. This is hopefully
the last part I need to break loose to provide me with peace of mind,
although you just know that now that I've said that the other T&P valve
will fail 
nate
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You could try the old manual impact method. With both hands put all
the torque you dare on the breaker and with the third hand use a big
hammer on the breaker. Can be done 2 handed but not as effective 
Harry K
eh, it's done. I just posted in case someone was going to say something
like "more than 400 ft-lb and you'll spin the bung right out" and since
I didn't get any of those replies, I had at it. Enlisted the girlie to
hang onto the pipes while I reefed on it, took a decent sized grunt on
my new breaker bar with a 30" piece of pipe slid over it (oops, I just
voided my warranty, didn't I?) and busted it loose. Anode looked a
little worse than the other one but still didn't indicate that it'd
stopped protecting the tank, so I just slid in a new one, did a little
cheap ******* happy dance, and turned on the water for another 15 years
or so
nate
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Excellent! I always like to have my fall back plan figured out if
jobs like that go wrong.
Yeah, that was "call plumber and tell him to come install new water
heater." Credit card was at the ready. I just figured that that was
what was going to happen anyway if I didn't inspect the anode, as it
was old enough it couldn't be trusted without inspection.
My worst panic was the day I twisted off one of the bolts holding the
thermostat while installing a freshly completely overhauled motor in
my PU. (1962 Chev 6) Only thin original left on it was the block/
camshaft and crank. Carefully drilled dead center for an easy out and
busted the drill bit off in the hole just as I was finishing. Much
fun with a dental pick before I got that out of there.
Funny you should use that example. I spent a fun afternoon one day
drilling the water manifold mounting bolts out of the front of a
Studebaker V-8 after attempting to snug one up to stop a slow leak and
finding out that the PO had replaced them all with Grade 2
hardware... at least four of them busted while attempting to remove
the water manifold to drill out the first one. I had to pull the fan,
shroud, and radiator and then climb in and sit on the front fender
while using a 1/2" hand drill. I don't like EZ-outs, I just drilled
to the threads and busted the swarf out with a tap. Amazingly enough
I didn't have to use a single helicoil. (pats self on back.) Good
times.
nate