Water Heater Anode question

[jimh]

Cathodic Protection 101

this may give a little clearer explanation. cathode neg chg.; anode pos chg.

i looked in one of the suburban owners guide and it does recomend annual replacement. somewhere, i believe in one of their manuals, it recommended replacement at somewhere around 75%. i believe as long as their is sacrificial metal attached, it will work. the short piece of steel showing doesn't excite me.

[jimh]

Originally Posted by LFugate

Nope, my last TT was gas only and it had a anode. That one lasted 6 years before I replaced it, it probably could have went longer.

my 84 had a gas with no anode rod. had to replace the frig in 96 but the wh was still going in 2002.
my current home gas wh has no anode. the electric home units do.
it may have been a stretch saying it may be aggravated by the heating element but there is reason they were (don't know if the new gas hw heaters have one or not) just found in the electric heaters. in the home units, i believe the heaters are the same metal.
the electrical imbalance has to be satisfied somehow. on our docks, we used an electrical current to do that. the ones that figured out how much and where to locate it are a lot smarter than i am.

[VTX Al]

Originally Posted by Arn

Umm, my understanding is that it needs to be replaced when it is 3/4 through to the steel core, not 3/4 gone from tip to tail. I'd be replacing that. $15 for an anode rod vs $$$$$ for a new water heater.

Sorry, but this is incorrect. It is exactly the opposite. The anode rod depicted in the earlier photo still has at least 90% of it's life left. However, if it makes ya feel better - just replace it !!

...VTX-AL