The Sacrificial Rod of Anode

I really wish it was an ancient Egyptian artifact I was talking about. It might be cheaper. No, I'm talking about our water heater. As of about a half hour ago, we thought we just had a minor problem and we could probably expect to get a few more years out of the one we have. Now it actually looks as though we are talking about buying and installing a whole new flipping unit.

We've been noticing a pretty nasty sulphur smell in our hot water for a few weeks now, which is getting worse. In the course of talking with various professionals, we discovered a few options to try. We can try chlorinating the well to kill these mineral-fixing bacteria which are harmless but cause this problem. Or the problem may simply be with the water heater.

We had a plumber out this morning to investigate. This outfit calls themselves the Punctual Plumbers, and they aren't kidding. The guy was waiting in my driveway when I got home from work.

He advised bleaching the water heater, a fairly routine procedure that will take care of the sediment and crud that builds up inside and is probably causing the smell. He went over every step of the procedure with me, because we would most likely be finishing it on our own, since it takes a few hours.

Stymied at the outset: we could not remove the anode rod. What the hell is an anode rod? Basically whenever you have water and metal in constant contact, you need one of these. It's made out of two metals, magnesium and steel. The one which is more reactive will dissolve or corrode (be sacrificed) in order to preserve other metal. In the presence of salt (as in from a water softener), this process happens even faster. This object is screwed into the top of the water heater and sticks down into the water.

The plumber and I worked together for a half hour trying to budge this thing. A heavy breaker bar, an acetylene torch, and both of us pulling with all our might would not loosen the screw head. The corners even started to strip. He said he had NEVER come across this before.

I'm starting to wonder about these 'never seen this happen before' things around the house. Like our kitchen cabinet. The professional who came out to investigate that said in his 8 years of selling/installing kitchen cabinets, he'd never seen a unit box separate like ours was doing. But at least Pioneer is replacing the unit free of charge. We just have to have someone come out and tear the old one out and install the new one. Tim and I are not the most handy people in the world when it comes to home repairs.

Anyway. If you can't remove the anode rod, there is no other way to pour in the bleach. And you can't de-gunk the water heater. And if you can't take out the old rod (there is no sense in putting in a new one), you're pretty much stuck with this dissolving metal until it's down to the core wire. Which in our case, after 7+ years, it may be anyway.

He drained and flushed it, apologized, and gave me an estimate on a new water heater with installation and warranty. And the names of some of his buddies to talk to at another plumbing supply store who might give us a good deal.

I think we need further consultation before we take this step. But it's not looking good. And with our hard water, we would be buying a new water heater anyway in probably 2 years. One bigger than our current 40 gallon would be nice.

Merry Christmas! Oh, just what I wanted...a new 50-gallon water heater! Oh honey, you shouldn't have...!