Jeff Wisnia wrote:
larry moe 'n curly wrote:

I recently bought a State brand heater containing two
anode rods. One rod screws in the normal way, but
the other hangs from the hot water outlet by a 1" piece
of plastic, and it's definitely insulated from the tank.
So does this mean that the anode doesn't have to directly
contact the tank?

Is there any possibility that that "second piece" is somehow
in the wrong place and it's really the "drop tube" for the
cold water inlet? You did call it a "rod" and not a tube,
so excuse me if I'm making a WAG in the wrong direction.
But I too would like to know its function if it's really
insulated from the tank shell.

Maybe the plastic hanger is conductive?

The second anode rod looks a lot like this:

www.waterheaterrescue.com/images/ComboRodTop.jpg

Only with mine the plastic between the nipple and anode is blue instead
of white. The big horizontal hole through the plastic is for letting
water flow out of the heater. I measured infinity ohms between the
nipple and anode (digital meter), so I don't think that the plastic is
conductive.