Water heater anode rod

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carlherrnstein
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Post by carlherrnstein » Mon. Apr. 04, 2022 10:53 pm

So I think my anode rod has gone bad, I have a somewhat unpleasant smell from my hot water, and a very unpleasant taste(I know I know you shouldn't drink hot water, but it boils noodles faster) a couple weeks ago I changed some things around in my laundry/mechanical room. I took out my non functional propane furnace and the wall that separated the water heater closet from the furnace closet, so now I have a 4' wide alcove that's 30" deep And I now have access to the crawlspace from inside the house. I had to move the cold supply and hot lines to the other side of the water heater. So I drained it and cleaned the accumulated stuff that had fallen behind the water heater. I also replaced the plastic drain valve with a 3/4" ball valve so I can flush it. So I flushed it (some crap came out but there was a lot that didn't) and realized the upper element is shot and the lower element was just as old as the top one, so I replaced them both. After all that I had brownish hot water for a couple days I figured it will get better, I have clear hot water but it has a smell, I drained it and flushed it again then removed the lower element to have a look, it's split and is badly corroded to the iron wire inside it, to my surprise the inner tank is plastic.
Now my question, is a anode rod needed in a plastic water heater? I'm considering removing the anode and plugging the port. Would that "hurt" anything? I now have a water softener and think all the mineral build-up is from years ago when I didn't have a softener and won't be an issue anymore.

 
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Post by McGiever » Mon. Apr. 04, 2022 11:13 pm

carlherrnstein wrote:
Mon. Apr. 04, 2022 10:53 pm
After all that I had brownish hot water for a couple days I figured it will get better, I have clear hot water but it has a smell, I drained it and flushed it again then removed the lower element to have a look, it's split and is badly corroded to the iron wire inside it, to my surprise the inner tank is plastic.
Now my question, is a anode rod needed in a plastic water heater?

Above, are you speaking of seeing the anode thru lower element hole?
With a plastic liner in HWT there would need to be a vacuum breaker valve to prevent collapsing the liner from any negative pressure situation...these can corrode and malfunction and not open and liner is at risk of damage.
I just recently replaced my vacuum breaker when I had it down for draining lime crude out. Gave the old vacuum breaker a vinegar bath and now have it on stand by for next time.

Where is the brown color coming from with plastic liner in there?

 
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carlherrnstein
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Post by carlherrnstein » Tue. Apr. 05, 2022 4:00 pm

You are correct I can view the anode rod through the element port openings, it's heavily corroded and split at the end I can see the iron wire inside it.

I disturbed sediment when I was working on the water heater, replaced the undersized drain with a 3/4" ball valve and a pipe nipple. I also replaced both elements only 1 was working. The brownish water only lasted a day or so, I had very hard water an have had a softener for 3-4 years now. However the hard water crud is in the tank, I might have to attempt to de-scale it if removing/replacing the anode rod doesn't cure the smell an odd taste.

Is a anode rod necessary with a plastic inner tank water heater? What could corrode if I omit it?

 
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Post by gardener » Tue. Apr. 05, 2022 5:01 pm

carlherrnstein wrote:
Tue. Apr. 05, 2022 4:00 pm
You are correct I can view the anode rod through the element port openings, it's heavily corroded and split at the end I can see the iron wire inside it.

I disturbed sediment when I was working on the water heater, replaced the undersized drain with a 3/4" ball valve and a pipe nipple. I also replaced both elements only 1 was working. The brownish water only lasted a day or so, I had very hard water an have had a softener for 3-4 years now. However the hard water crud is in the tank, I might have to attempt to de-scale it if removing/replacing the anode rod doesn't cure the smell an odd taste.

Is a anode rod necessary with a plastic inner tank water heater? What could corrode if I omit it?
Is/was it this sort of brown stuff?
https://cdn2.tmbi.com/TFH/Step-By-Step/FH06SEP_ANOROD_02.JPG


 
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Apr. 05, 2022 5:27 pm

Cut the anode rod off just past the threads, pour some bleach in the water heater, install anode rod and refill heater. Let it come up to temperature and flush via drain until you get clear water. If the smell does not return after 2 weeks or so it is likely due to a reaction with the anode rod. I don't see why you need an anode rod with a plastic tank, but it must be there for a reason.

What is the make and model of the water heater?

 
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Post by carlherrnstein » Tue. Apr. 05, 2022 7:25 pm

I have taken the water heater out of its closet and removed the anode rod, I had to use a 1/2" impact on the 1-1/16 anode hex to get that little bastard out. The water heater says whirpool on a sticker pic of "serial plate" down below. I went to the Orange home center an got a aluminum anode rod $14 hell a brass plug is $6 I forgot to get descaler.........

I'm thinking it's the sediment in the tank, I tasted some of it an it tastes exactly like the hot water obviously, the look on my wife's face was priceless.

I run the water heater at 180F so there should be no bacteria in it just minerals.

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Post by kcarr » Sat. Apr. 09, 2022 12:10 pm

Carl,
I have had to tackle the rotten egg smell of a hot water heater
and I used to use bleach but found it too volatile almost explosive and the bleach did not work that well or last that long ... so a few years ago I started using Hydrogen Peroxide... it works great, keeps the smell gone much longer... I give the tank a dose of HP about every other month. I do flush the tank after application just a little.
I find the traces of natural bacteria coming from the well ground water causes the problem. Usually you do not have this problem with public water.

Now this solution works great for me.. see if it works for you. Ken

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Post by carlherrnstein » Sat. Apr. 09, 2022 1:11 pm

I wouldn't describe the smell/taste as sulphur. It was more of a vaugely metalic nature think grinding hot dipped galvanized steel.

I think it's under control now, I put the new aluminum anode rod in and used a shopvac to suck out as much flakey/sandy/gritty crud out as I could get to an flushed it multiple times but, there is still some in there. I probably should replace it but, I just can't bring myself to replace a water heater that's not leaking especially when a new one costs more than my first vehicle. I keep thinking I will incorporate a sidearm heat exchanger to pull heat from my combustioneer's chimney or from a solar collector but, that would be a big project that I might not be able to make work.


 
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Post by McGiever » Sat. Apr. 09, 2022 7:29 pm

I read were the OP here runs very high temperature for a bacterial well issue and realize that is how it has to be. But for others following along this may be of some interest… The lime or calcium carbonate flaking off of the electric elements which settle to tank bottom in a electric HWH gets produced proportionally heavier as thermostat temperature setting surpasses 125*F. This and different water has different amounts of lime dissolved in it.

Then there are different element types that can be more friendly. Low density ones come to mind.

 
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Post by carlherrnstein » Sat. Apr. 09, 2022 9:17 pm

McGiever it's interesting you mention that, in my dad's house (just down the road similar well depth) his old water heater was a Westinghouse from the 50s it's elements went out and was of an obsolete design and new ones couldn't be had in a timely manner Its elements were 1000w and were huge they looked like they should have been 4500w. The inside of the glass lined tank was spotless no scale at all, it had never been flushed, it had hard water it's entire service, however there is a tempering tank that was heated by the coal boiler in the winter.

I checked my thermostats on my heater, they max out at 150f. I had turned them up because I kept running out of hot water. Water heater temperature set point is a bit of a mystery to me. Some say set it to 120f to save energy or to prevent scalding. Others say to turn it up to kill bacteria like Legionella.

It's my understanding that a higher watt density element can scale worse by causing localized boiling on the surface of the element.

 
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Post by rberq » Sat. Apr. 09, 2022 10:14 pm

carlherrnstein wrote:
Sat. Apr. 09, 2022 9:17 pm
I checked my thermostats on my heater, they max out at 150f. I had turned them up because I kept running out of hot water.
I turned mine up to 140f because any lower and the dishwasher didn't get stuff clean.

After using most of the hot water to fill the bath tub, I often could hear the elements hissing and sizzling and popping as they re-heated the water. Lately they don't make much noise. I'm not sure what to think of that ... why has the noise stopped?

 
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Apr. 10, 2022 11:53 am

Another feature that may be misunderstood is that with 2 thermostats one in both the upper and in the lower elements you may have different settings however the bottom element is not permitted to run until the top thermostat has been satisfied.

Top water is maybe 1/4th the total volume so keep that in mind. And top water is what you draw off first.

If you keep the thermostats the same setting then the top element is doing the most work since water stratification puts the hottest water always up top. So when the HWH as a whole is falling way behind with keeping up then the bottom element will always remain switched off and the load is the all on the top element until is is satisfied. Maybe load demand had ceased by that time??

So, now switched back to bottom 3/4th and maybe big demand remains unseen. Lots of time to work on that portion of storage. Here’s where you help yourself with not running out of hot water, set that bottom thermostat some degrees higher than the top…now the stratified hot water from bottom clear up to the top is hotter than the top setting.

Aside from scalding, if a dishwasher were to be run there’s your hotter water. I was proactive here and added a thermostatic mixing valve to kitchen faucet and Mrs. never needs to adjust for scalding herself.

Okay, so Top element stays off until you would draw down that 3/4th of tank and then your hot water load is maybe done or nearly so. Top element shortly is satisfied and so hands the work back for the bottom element to get ready for the next task at no particular hurry.

And BTW when HWH quickly runs out of hot water unlike before that is a sure sign that your bottom element is burnt out.

Hope this helps you all,

McGiever

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