On Aug 20, 1:59*am, "Roger Shoaf" wrote:
"Salmon Egg" wrote in message

...

Does it make practical sense to preemptively replace anodes in working
water heaters in order to extend their lives? Is it better to just wait
until leaking begins?

Bill

Yes check the anode! * To simplify the removal use a 6 point socket and a
breaker bar. *I have found that heating the head of the anode with a propane
torch softens the pipe dope thy use at the factory to facilitate removal.

Check out this web site for the anode tutorial:http://waterheaterrescue.com/

You can probably find the anodes cheaper if you hunt a bit.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent..


I've checked mine a couple times so far with no problems. I think
folks here are looking at it from two very different perspectives:

1 - Checking it every couple years from the time the heater was new.
I'd start at about year 3. If you do that, the fitting will remain
easy to unscrew in the future and the risk of causing problems is low.

2 - Waiting until it's 10+ years old, approaching it's end of life,
and then doing it for the first time. In that case, I'd agree it may
be not worth it, as it could be very difficult to remove and could
result in more problems, eg leaking.


Regarding the advice to check it every 6 months, that seems very
excessive to me and I doubt any water heater company would recommend
doing it. The last tank I installed had no mention of checking the
anode at all. I think the position of many of the tank manufacturers
is that it should last about the life of the tank and doesn't need
checking.

And regarding that point, there are two schools of thought on the
whole issue of whether it makes sense to replace the anode or not.
It depends on whether you believe it really will extend the life of
the tank significantly or not. It's also possible that other
failure mechanisms will ultimately cause the tank to fail at about the
same time whether you replace the anode or not. In other words, the
original anode may be sufficient to prevent galvanic corrosion long
enough that it gets the tank to the time zone when other failure modes
unrelated to the anode are likely going to get it soon anyway.