sorry not politics.... design engineering malpractice

I am angry about the sacrificial anode in my water heater.

My last water heater tried to kill me by energizing my shower water...

This time I decided to be proactive and replace the anode well before it was needed.  Bzzzt fail.... with my 1/2" breaker bar and pipe extension I could not budge it. This weak old man was twisting the entire heater.

I enlisted my local plumber (he should be able to do this right?). He brought along a young strong back to hold the heater in place but was also unable to break it loose (made me feel good).

He said he would borrow an air impact wrench from a tire shop and come back, but that was months ago.  :'(

This week I borrowed a proper air powered impact wrench and 100+PSI compressor from my next door neighbor. After two days of banging on the anode, no movement (reminds me of bowels the indian joke... probably racist so look it up yourself).  8)

I think I will live with my hot water heater, it will probably out last me anyhow.  But this still makes me angry.

They sell heaters with longer warranty for higher price points, that likely just have fatter anodes.  :

It would not be that expensive to just ship all heaters with 20 years worth of anode. Alternately they could mount the anode on a removable plate/cover. Or even add some extra holes with nylon plugs in them that can be easily removed to add new anodes.

Arghhhhhhhh. this all could be avoided fairly cheaply and easily.

JR

PS: I am not ready go get a torch and heat the anode to perhaps loosen it... It appears to really like where it is, so be it. 

I had the exact same problem with the inboard-outboard in my 1975 Mercruiser.  The sacrificial zinc would eventually weld itself to the prop housing, and no amount of beating or wrenching would break the bond.  I almost always resorted to drilling out the bolts and starting again.

At least in that case once could treat the mounting bolts with copper anti-seizing compound, which I'm sure you don't want to be drinking.

Matador said:

I had the exact same problem with the inboard-outboard in my 1975 Mercruiser.  The sacrificial zinc would eventually weld itself to the prop housing, and no amount of beating or wrenching would break the bond.  I almost always resorted to drilling out the bolts and starting again.

At least in that case once could treat the mounting bolts with copper anti-seizing compound, which I'm sure you don't want to be drinking.

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I have wondered about there being some kind of electro-chemical process welding the anode to the steel tank. So far I find no scientific explanation for why they are so hard to remove.

JR

What is the source of your water? pumped up or from the surface (body of water)? Lots of calcium I suppose?
You might want to invest in equipment before your heater to reduce some of the hardness of the water. Most of that equipment can be serviced more easily than a heater can, shouldn't be necessary though. Over here (NL) this is commonly done in some areas, especially before coffeemachines (also for taste, but still).

Jarno said:

What is the source of your water? pumped up or from the surface (body of water)? Lots of calcium I suppose?

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City water (cough small town water), AFAIK it comes from a well several miles away...  From looking at the sediment filters before my RO water filter I see a lot of red sediment (iron?).

You might want to invest in equipment before your heater to reduce some of the hardness of the water. Most of that equipment can be serviced more easily than a heater can, shouldn't be necessary though. Over here (NL) this is commonly done in some areas, especially before coffeemachines (also for taste, but still).

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www said:

Anode rods have a life expectancy of about five years, but as always it really depends on the quality of your water and how much of it travels through the heater. When sodium is added to the water (like when a water softener is used), anode rods can corrode more quickly: in as little as six months if the water is over-softened!

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At least one web source advises that softening the water can hurt anode life. That said I routinely find bad advice on the internets.  Just yesterday I saw one website suggest using teflon tape on anode threads? If the thread is not ground bonded to the steel tank, the sacrificial anode will not have an electrical path.

I expect managing PH might make a difference..

I bought an active anode that pushes a small current through the water to manage the metal transfer. (But I can't install the new fancy anode until I get the old one out.)

JR

PS: I don't see any calcium buildup in my kettle, but I only use my RO filtered water for coffee or drinking. 

Red is iron allright. Hard to remove. Probably means the water isn't very hard. Iron usually means very slightly acidic water. And that's the reason your anode goes quickly and it's also why it's stuck. The electrical potential from the acidic water fuses the anode to the rest. Migration of metal. Isolating with teflon tape will make the anode last longer. It will eat the heater, tho, as you suspected.

The only thing that's easy to remove, is calcium, with polyester resin. Iron needs oxygen and a tank to let the resulting oxide sink.

Reverse osmosis works pretty well to remove everything, but requires extreme pressure and is costly. It is a clean method, compared to resin, that changes the ionic nature of the water.

I spent almost a decade in the water treatment business. From dry cleaning to hospitals, to desalination and even water jet cutters. It was interesting, for a while

cyrano said:

Red is iron allright. Hard to remove. Probably means the water isn't very hard. Iron usually means very slightly acidic water. And that's the reason your anode goes quickly and it's also why it's stuck. The electrical potential from the acidic water fuses the anode to the rest. Migration of metal. Isolating with teflon tape will make the anode last longer. It will eat the heater, tho, as you suspected.

The only thing that's easy to remove, is calcium, with polyester resin. Iron needs oxygen and a tank to let the resulting oxide sink.

Reverse osmosis works pretty well to remove everything, but requires extreme pressure and is costly. It is a clean method, compared to resin, that changes the ionic nature of the water.

I spent almost a decade in the water treatment business. From dry cleaning to hospitals, to desalination and even water jet cutters. It was interesting, for a while

Click to expand...

Yup... I RO all my coffee/drinking/cooking/beer making water. The unfiltered tap water would kill my beer brewing yeast due to clorox or whatever the town added to kill biotics.

I repeat, I consider this design malpractice to not anticipate difficulty removing spent anodes, and provide some easier way inexpensively. Of course, with a wink and a nod, they sell more new water heaters that way. It is not fraud per se, but clearly not customer friendly.

I tried to be proactive and replace the anode long before it was spent with no luck. I have another local odd jobber (my carpenter) willing to take a shot at it, but my two days with an air impact wrench banging it should have done something. He is a handy guy so we'll see.

JR