I installed a new 2.5-gallon point-of-use water heater under my kitchen sink exactly one year ago. My old one failed after less than three years, and it wasn’t covered under warranty because I was supposed to inspect the sacrificial anode rod every year, and replace it at least every two years. My bad. I didn’t read the fine print on the warranty. But now I know (and knowing is half the battle).
So I created an event on my calendar to inspect the anode rod exactly one year later. To do this, I had to uninstall my water heater, unplug it, empty the tank, and take some stuff apart. See below.
Take a close look at that anode rod. At this point, you’re probably saying “What anode rod?”
Yeah, exactly. It’s entirely gone; it looks like half of an incense stick. All that’s left is the wire core. For comparison, here’s a new anode rod and what was left of my old one.
The old anode rod disintegrated at the threads when I tried to unscrew it, and the new one screwed into place just fine.
I put everything back together and ran hot water into the tank, but my kitchen faucet promptly clogged with sediment that had washed out of the tank. I took my faucet apart and cleaned out the aerator, and everything worked fine again after that.
Summary
The water in my city is very hard on water heaters. I should probably make a point of replacing the anode rod every six months. And now I feel the urgent need to inspect the anode rod in my traditional tank water heater. I’ll report back with my findings soon.
