Whirlpool 10 year old Water Heater

[Wilhelm1]

Hello, I have a 10-12 years old 80 gallon water heater, if only used maybe 2 weeks a year and it smells like rotten eggs, what will the anode look like when removed? It has only been flushed somewhat by running the water. The
elements seem to be okay as it heats very well.

Will the anode be eaten up due to stagnation or will it be in pretty good condition? Should I get a new heater?
This heater is down near Myrtle Beach as far as the water location. City Water, Good water or Bad in this area of country?

 

[Terry]

Most condo associations require replacement of water heaters after 10 years for safety reasons.
I wouln't spend a lot of money on something that old. None really. If you touch it at all, it should be replaced. Old tanks can fail, and over time can fill with lime.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Wilhelm1]

Most condo associations require replacement of water heaters after 10 years for safety reasons.
I wouln't spend a lot of money on something that old. None really. If you touch it at all, it should be replaced. Old tanks can fail, and over time can fill with lime.

Thanks for the swift response, my place is a second home and due to the little use, I was thinking of replacing the anode and draining, if that does not work.
Will buy a new tank.

 

[Wilhelm1]

Made a reply and it disappeared. Thanks for your swift reply. With the little use over the 10 years, I want to try checking the anode and
flushing the tank. Any thoughts of what I will find when I remove the anode?

 

[Reach4]

I expect the anode will look like a rusty rod with white crusty stuff adhering.

If you crank the temperature up, that might reduce H2S production if that is happening in the WH. I don't know if the H2S is coming in the water pipe, or if it is being converted from sulfates in your plumbing. I think it takes SRB for that production, and I would expect the chlorine would have cleared the SRB in the incoming water. So would there be a reservoir in your WH and pipes that the residual chlorine is not strong enough to kill? I don't know.

 

[Wilhelm1]

I have decided to replace the 80 Gallon Electric Hot Water Heater just to put the problem behind me. Plan to use a 40 gallon tank, Priced one at
Home Depot and it will cost about $409.00 Rheem and I plan to use the metal braid covered inlet and outlet hoses instead of the copper looking ones that need to be bent and doesn't leave any room for errors in bending.. Thanks to the Jerk who installed the 80 Gal. tank, I am not able to drain the tank even thought I had to cut the metal pan the tank was sitting in to hook up a hose to try to drain it. Thanks Guys.

 

[hj]

Why are you blaming the guy who installed the heater 10 years ago, for a problem with draining it now? You have let it fill up with 'debris" which is clogging the valve opening.

 

[Wilhelm1]

Well, just because, I am like "Harry Home Owner". If it is not broke, it does not need fixing. Unfortunately we have to rely on people who
are supposed to be the experts and this guy set me up for failure. Besides that, I was unaware of the necessity of draining the tank every 6 months. Okay, I am guilty of not knowing what I should know.

 

[Reach4]

Besides that, I was unaware of the necessity of draining the tank every 6 months. Okay, I am guilty of not knowing what I should know.

I expect most people do not drain their tanks even every 3 years. .... make that ever.

If the problem is that your spout is clogged, I can think of a few things better than drilling a hole in the tank to drain. Siphoning the tank from the top would be one of them.

If you clogged up after 15 years, I would put in a whole-house sediment filter, even on city water. Actually I would consider putting in one anyway. If you don't have a filter element to catch sediment, you might not know if you need a sediment filter. I am saying that the filter not only removes solids, it can you know how much there was to remove.

 

[Wilhelm1]

Thanks Reach 4. The 10-12 years of use of the Water Tank more than likely was turned on maybe 24 weeks during that time frame. My son and I
are going to spend a week down there and plan to work on a new tank. We do not drink the water and use bottle water to drink. Just have no idea
what shape the anode rod will be in since it has been subjected to very little use other than (stagnated water)? Are the heating elements in bad shape also? Before we go for the new tank, we may try to remove the anode to inspect. Because the bad install required me to cut the pan to where it is not any good, after we get a hose hooked up, to turn on the water, to maybe pressure the drain valve to open up. Will update later.

 

[Reach4]

If I were going to try to rehab the WH, I think I would try to rod out a clogged drain valve with a wire.

I replaced my drain valve with a 3/4 NPT nipple and a ball valve, and then a garden hose thread adapter. That should give more flow for flushing.

Removing an old anode usually requires an impact wrench.

Some people remove their anodes and replace it with a plug. This is to get rid of the smell, despite losing the protection of the anode. So don't put in a new anode expecting that to help the smell. As I understand it, the magnesium of an anode together with SRB (sulfate reducing bacteria) together produce H2S. An aluminium anode will cut down on that, but not eliminate it. Sanitizing the well and plumbing can knock down the SRB for a while or maybe even a long time. Running the WH hotter can keep down the SRB in the WH but not in the pipes. There are ways to do a more through job of sanitizing well and plumbing.

 

[Terry]

When I drain an old tank, I like to hook the hose up and leave the water supply to the tank on while I open the drain. Sometimes that forces the sediment through the drain.
And sometimes it doesn't. You do what you can do with it. I've had to wheel out water heaters full of water before because they wouldn't drain. That can just happen over time.

 

[Jadnashua]

It can make it easier to rod out (poke into ) the WH if you remove the stock drain valve on a new one and replace it with a full-port ball valve. To get the hose connection, you may need to buy an adapter, but in the end, other than sticking out more, it can help.

WHat's clogging the thing now might be sediment that came in from the water supply, but easily could also be mineral deposits that were precipitated out of the water in the act of heating it (similar to what you might see in a well-used tea pot). Depends on how hard your water is and how much it is used along with how old it is.

 

[Dj2]

How is it the plumber/installer's fault?

 

[Jadnashua]

Some locales require a WH to be hard piped...some require flexible connections (common in earthquake country), and some allow either. So, before you make a decision on how you're going to replace it, you might want to check your state's or local code requirements so you don't have to do it over. SOme require it to be installed with earthquake straps, but probably not in MD. Where I live, and don't argue with the inspector, they require any new WH install, whether new construction or replacement, to have both a tempering valve and a vacuum relief valve as part of the installation. Many will argue (probably correctly) that most installations don't require a vacuum relief valve, but you do what you have to to get it to pass...it's not worth the arguments. Not following local code requirements may not come back to bite you immediately, but can be a sticking point if you ever do want to sell, or do some other work (if you didn't pull a permit) and the inspector sees something that obviously was replaced, but wasn't permitted and inspected. Things like a WH have a serial number that says when it was built, so you can't say, well, it's been like that forever - what's the problem, it must be grandfathered!

 

[Wilhelm1]

First of all, the water heater is in South Carolina. Not sure if a permit was required to install the tank. It was installed during a $100,000 repair as a result of a ruptured washing machine hose. Over 90,000 gallons of water in the house. There may have been some inspections but for the WH, I don't know. To answer why I say the installer did a bum job was the fact that the metal pan was pushed up against drain valve and the only way to drain the tank was to cut the side of the pan in order to be able to hook up a hose.

There is a relief valve on the existing tank but not a tempering valve. There is a temperature controller on the top of the tank. Thank you for the thought provoking information, will check with the county and state.

 

[Jadnashua]

All states have plumbing codes. Some townships do not have an inspector, but technically, it still must be installed per codes. Some will say, who cares, if you don't get caught, it's not an issue, but the codes are the MINIMUM approved way to install things. The codes have been developed over decades to account for those 'what-if' situations, where not doing it that way can create problems. You may never experience one of those 'what-if' situations, but why press your luck? It's likely you wont' live there forever, and when you sell it you could have issues, or hurt someone that does experience one of those 'what-if' situations.