How Does Your Water Heater Anode Look?

[rodgebone]

After 11 months of continuous full timing from new I decided to check the water heater anode in my Suburban for the first time ever. Was amazed at how bad it was (roughly 50%)...The rule of thumb is once a year but I think I will check/replace mine at 10 months. How's yours look? :cool:

[flybouy]

I wouldn't consider that 30 days post due for a replacement. I've had them look like that and used my bench grinder with a wire wheel to knock the crud off and use it for a few more months. At the cost it's not a big deal but that level of consumption doesn't warrant any urgency in my opinion.

[chuckster57]

I’ve seen worse. I think your good for a few more months.

[QCMan]

That anode looks fine and normal. I have had some last six months and some last two years. I have found that they tend to last longer when I chase the threads in the tank with a tap before reinstalling the anode in the spring. That being said, no two years of camping are exactly the same. Variable water conditions, variable electrical conditions, variable usage of electric and gas modes all affect life of the anode. We lived in our Starcraft Aruba for seven months and a periodic check showed minimal wear each time. It would appear you have plenty of life left in yours. Our Rockwood Mini Lite ate them up to almost no anode and just the carrier rod left in less than a year of use. There was no long usage on it.
I typically check it when there will be a few weeks until our next trip or every four months, whichever comes first. Fairly easy item to keep tabs of as long as you have a 1 1/16" socket. Just be careful how tight you make it and do not use excess teflon tape as too much can act as an insulator and render the anode useless.

[flybouy]

The use of Teflon tape will not act as an electrical insulator. When the tank has water in it the water will make an electrical bond between the steel tank and the anode. The only thing that has an effect on the sacrificial anode is the mineral content and composition of the water. The power source of gas or electric is has no bearing on how rapidly the anode will "give up" it's material.

[chuckster57]

I always use white thread compound, no need to remember which way to “wind” the Teflon tape. :D

[roadglide]

The first magnesium Rod lasted one year I think the magnesium leaves too much crap in the tank. I am using the aluminum Rod going on 4 years draining the tank every six months and clean in the rod. Works good for me. The rod on the left looks like aluminum and it looks good in the picture.

[flybouy]

The first magnesium Rod lasted one year I think the magnesium leaves too much crap in the tank. I am using the aluminum Rod going on 4 years draining the tank every six months and clean in the rod. Works good for me. The rod on the left looks like aluminum and it looks good in the picture.

The point of the anode is to dissolve so the tank doesn't. That's why it's called a sacrificial anode. Switching from magnesium to aluminum so that "it lasts longer" defeats that purpose. Magnesium and Zinc anodes are used on boats to protect aluminum propellers and outdrives.

Magnesium creates a higher voltage than aluminum and therefore it dissolves faster than aluminum does. The "crap" in your tank is most likely sediments from the minerals in the water but I'd rather have that in the bottom of the tank vs adhered to the tank itself and corroding it away.

For the small cost of the anode rod I use magnesium hut that's my choice.

[dutchmensport]

You can probably get another year out of that same rod. When you see 1/2 to 2/3rds bare wire, then it's time. My last camper (Outback travel trailer), I never changed the anode in 5 years. When sold, it still did not show any bare wire. My previous camper, had it for 8 years. I think I changed the rod once.

[rodgebone]

Greatly appreciate the feedback folks - thats why I come on here. From a newbie point of view it looked bad and I didnt want broken chunks to dig/flush out of the tank but i spoze it could have gone longer in hindsight. The replacement unit I used which is shown on the left is a Suburban Magnesium rod #232767 (the Suburban alloy rod is part #232768) - no clue what the original factory installed rod was made of. Instructions said to replace at 75% or greater wear - mine was way less than that but then I didnt read the instructions as usual ;) maybe 2-3 years for replacement is closer to the ball park. Cheers for the input!

[tech740]

The point of the anode is to dissolve so the tank doesn't. That's why it's called a sacrificial anode. Switching from magnesium to aluminum so that "it lasts longer" defeats that purpose. Magnesium and Zinc anodes are used on boats to protect aluminum propellers and outdrives.

Magnesium creates a higher voltage than aluminum and therefore it dissolves faster than aluminum does. The "crap" in your tank is most likely sediments from the minerals in the water but I'd rather have that in the bottom of the tank vs adhered to the tank itself and corroding it away.

For the small cost of the anode rod I use magnesium hut that's my choice.

This is how I look at it also. No need to replace a water heater if I could just replace the anode more frequently.

[ChuckS]

Stock OEM anode is magnesium and its what Id stay with.. Id also consider ... since your stationary pulling it every 3 or 4 months and wash out the tank and knock off the junk off the anode and reuse till you think its time to change...

Teflon tape is what I use and have used for decades.. it will not interfere with the function of the anode

[ChuckS]

Short video from Airexcel that makes the Suburban water heater... quick s8mlle video that should make things clearer...

https://youtu.be/CO3XnDkJ1wU

[wiredgeorge]

Any country folk on this forum who have an electric water heater know there is an anode rod in their home water heater. The quality of the well water determines how often the anode must be changed and the tank drained (gets crud in it). An anode isn't very expensive. Here is an etrailer article comparing aluminum vs magnesium anode rods: https://www.etrailer.com/question-213087.html

[flybouy]

Any country folk on this forum who have an electric water heater know there is an anode rod in their home water heater. The quality of the well water determines how often the anode must be changed and the tank drained (gets crud in it). An anode isn't very expensive. Here is an etrailer article comparing aluminum vs magnesium anode rods: https://www.etrailer.com/question-213087.html

Most residential water heaters (regardless of fuel source) have the anode vertically in the top of the tank. Often times you cannot remove it in one piece because it will hit the ceiling before the other end clears the hole. You have to take a hacksaw and cut it into sections to remove it. Replacement anodes are sold with the anode in sections mounted to a cable (like sausage links before they are cut) to facilitate installing it without removing the water heater.

[travelin texans]

That anode looks fine and normal. I have had some last six months and some last two years. I have found that they tend to last longer when I chase the threads in the tank with a tap before reinstalling the anode in the spring. That being said, no two years of camping are exactly the same. Variable water conditions, variable electrical conditions, variable usage of electric and gas modes all affect life of the anode. We lived in our Starcraft Aruba for seven months and a periodic check showed minimal wear each time. It would appear you have plenty of life left in yours. Our Rockwood Mini Lite ate them up to almost no anode and just the carrier rod left in less than a year of use. There was no long usage on it.
I typically check it when there will be a few weeks until our next trip or every four months, whichever comes first. Fairly easy item to keep tabs of as long as you have a 1 1/16" socket. Just be careful how tight you make it and do not use excess teflon tape as too much can act as an insulator and render the anode useless.

Never heard of using too much thread tape is a problem!!!
You better use plenty of tape or some type of thread compound on that rod or it will become welded into the threads with rust, that's a problem.
It DOES NOT/WILL NOT affect the effectiveness of the rod.
Water quality has a great deal of effect on the anode rod. I had a RV water softener connected at every spot which really helped the anode rod. I could easily get 2 years use before it looked anywhere near the one pictured.

[rodgebone]

Never heard of using too much thread tape is a problem!!!
You better use plenty of tape or some type of thread compound on that rod or it will become welded into the threads with rust, that's a problem.

not to worry...plenty of tape on my rod ;)

[wiredgeorge]

Most residential water heaters (regardless of fuel source) have the anode vertically in the top of the tank. Often times you cannot remove it in one piece because it will hit the ceiling before the other end clears the hole. You have to take a hacksaw and cut it into sections to remove it. Replacement anodes are sold with the anode in sections mounted to a cable (like sausage links before they are cut) to facilitate installing it without removing the water heater.


I have put in three water heaters in my house and all have had horizontal mount anodes. We have very hard water. Actually the first water heater replacement was on New Years Eve quite a few years ago and overpaid a plumbing company to come out and install as they had the water heater on their truck already. Last two water heaters have been designed for hard water environment. It is very difficult to get the anode out as they tend to gall and I use my air impact driver. We would have room to take the anode out at the top, if need be. Also have installed an appropriate electrical receptacle and can swap one out quickly now as we just install a plug on the new water heater and with a little brazing, good to go.


BY THE WAY, water heaters die in a messy manner on holidays!

[flybouy]

Sounds like it might be time to invest in a water softener. I had to replace ours at year 18. Replaced with same high efficiency nat gas (PVC flue) AO Smith unit, ball valves and stainless steel braided lines. That thing will most likely out last me!:lol:

[wiredgeorge]

Sounds like it might be time to invest in a water softener. I had to replace ours at year 18. Replaced with same high efficiency nat gas (PVC flue) AO Smith unit, ball valves and stainless steel braided lines. That thing will most likely out last me!:lol:


We have a very large water softener and whole house filter system but our water is hard beyond belief. Our well is down 860' I believe and probably would look for better solutions to the hard water issue but the more effective the more pricey. Maybe if the gubbermint gives us a nice fat Covid check as Congress may be getting ready to pull the trigger on...

[flybouy]

You might want to look at an electronic water descaler. They set up a strong magnetic field on the water pipe and "align the electrons" so they don't attract. Other option would be an RO system (reverse osmosis) but they use a lot of water.

[QCMan]

By definition an anode is part of a circuit. Like it or not, too much tape will insulate the anode from the metal tank. Not my opinion, fact.

[flybouy]

By definition an anode is part of a circuit. Like it or not, too much tape will insulate the anode from the metal tank. Not my opinion, fact.

By your statement can you explain how the tank level sensors work? The tank is plastic and therefore non conductive. Does the liquid in the tank not complete the circuit between the common and the level sensors. That sir, is also a fact.

Here's another fact, if you do not have thread sealant (either tape or paste) in between the two threaded surfaces of a NPT threaded connection you can have a leak and with 2 dissimilar metals you will have corrosion.

[JRTJH]

By definition an anode is part of a circuit. Like it or not, too much tape will insulate the anode from the metal tank. Not my opinion, fact.

I'm not sure if you've ever "carefully inspected" the threads on an anode rod after removing it from the water heater fitting.... Even wrapped with multiple layers of teflon tape, the threads are "exposed and clearly visible"... It's a simple principle of sharp triangles in a corkscrew pattern "cutting" their way through the tape to make "metal to metal contact"....

You can't "isolate steel threads" by wrapping them in teflon tape, then twisting those threads into a "tapered hole with matching threads"... The steel "acts like a knife" and cuts the tape to achieve "metal to metal contact" with the female threads in the fitting....

Next time you take your anode out of the water heater, take a look at the "shredded teflon tape"....

[QCMan]

Ok two different principles. Tank sensors work on the conductivity of the water. The next is that if you have no sealant you will have a leak because of the imperfections in the threads but with the correct amount of sealant you will seal those imperfections and still have metal to metal contact if torqued properly resulting in a complete circuit in the case of an anode. Two dissimilar metals will corrode when in contact because they are at different levels on the galvanic scale which is why it is never a good idea to mix magnetic and non magnetic metals in contact with each other.

[QCMan]

Note that I said CORRECT amount of sealant. It was previously suggested that the amount of sealant did not matter and my previous statement still holds true that too much sealant can act as an insulator.

[JRTJH]

Note that I said CORRECT amount of sealant. It was previously suggested that the amount of sealant did not matter and my previous statement still holds true that too much sealant can act as an insulator.

From my experience, you CAN'T wrap too much teflon tape around the anode threads. If you can get it threaded, the threads will "cut through the teflon" and make metal to metal contact... Granted, if you wrap a "baseball size glob" of telfon around the threads, it will NEVER fit into the hole. My point is that whether you wrap 3 times around the threads or 15 times around the threads, it will be "just fine once installed".... You "can't put too much teflon tape on the threads" if you can still get it threaded in the fitting.

[QCMan]

Maybe in 45 years of experience I have seen more people do things that "can't" be done than you have. Different career paths give us all different experiences.

[rodgebone]

too much sealing tape??? take a look at the photos I put up in the 1st post...the teflon tape is clearly cut from half the threads and ended up wrapped around the anode. you can also clearly see how the threads are worn from making metal to metal contact with the tank fitting (the coating on the threads is now gone and is bare metal silver, not black). so despite the tape, once screwed in and fitted, there is actual metal to metal contact between the threaded fittings. the proof is in the pudding

[sonofcy]

After 11 months of continuous full timing from new I decided to check the water heater anode in my Suburban for the first time ever. Was amazed at how bad it was (roughly 50%)...The rule of thumb is once a year but I think I will check/replace mine at 10 months. How's yours look? :cool:

That has lots of life left in it, at least 6 months.

[JohnP]

Well, I had a big surprise firing up my hot water heater ! Some spider had a nest in the gas pipe burner leading into the tank.( I found this after taking it apart ) The spider blockage caused the gas to back up in a huge flame and started to melt the wires. Luckily I had the cover open and rushed back inside to shut the gas switch off. The thermo switch stopped working because of the heat must have damaged it. Lesson learned !!! Every first time use after winter test these propane appliances first before going out camping. I known from past expeiriences with the barbecue that spiders like the spell of propane. Should of thought of it for the RV too ! After I cleaned it out and fired it up with the direct wiring to test it out it worked beautifully. I then ordered a new thermal cutoff switch from Amazon. Just wanted the list members (especially the newbies ) to be aware. This could have been catastrophic if I did my routine and stayed inside the trailer once the switch was turned on.

[crowbar]

Hi Roger, that rod looks like mine did last year and it's still going good. I wouldn't waste my time pulling it out and grinding it down. Just slap some "never cease" on the threads and put it back in and check it next year.

[geeman]

The Anonde Rod has a steel rod up the middle of it. The one in the picture is not even half gone yet.

I'd put it back in and camp on............. throw the new one in the drawer for later.

[JRTJH]

Here's the "manufacturer's recommendations": One in each photo is "good" and one in each photo "needs replacement"....

It doesn't "hurt anything" to replace it earlier than necessary, but it does "waste money without improved protection for the water heater tank".....