I wrote:

Anyone that has ever pulled anything out of anything old and
untouched has risked or done damage and has a surprise or two.
Broken bolts, stripped thread, twisted connections valves that leak
by, and on and on.

Example: I helped my maintenance guys today. Last Thursday the were
going to pull a basin pan out of a water cooling tower and replace it
with the new one. Figured they would do one side in a day, the
second side in less time. They are on day 5 and were fabricating more
parts this morning. Side two will go easier since we know what parts
will fall apart.

I've been working around mechanical things for the past 50+ years.
**** happens.

It is experiences like these that make me wary of inspecting and
replacing the anode. I am pretty sure I will get another few years out
of the heater. In the back of my mind is the thought of the effort of
taking out the anode only to find out everything was ok until I
screwed things up.

But wouldn't removal be more difficult the longer it is left? I need to
check, but I'm almost sure that the instructions for the water heater I
installed earlier this year say to check the anode every six months.


I misremembered: the instructions say to inspect the anode annually
*after the warranty period has expired*. In our case that is twelve
years. I had tried to remove the anode in the old water heater but was
unable to shift it with as much force as I felt comfortable applying.
That was a 6-year warranty unit that was 11 years old, so I replaced it
preemptively, since there is no floor drain anywhere nearby.

Perce