Hot Water Anode Rods

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Greg Wall

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I am trying to find out how many anode rods are in a 40 gallon Aero oil fired hot water heater
 

JCH

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Sometimes the dip tube doubles as an anode too. (i.e. 1 dedicated anode + 1 combination anode/dip tube).

Often there is 1 anode for every 6 years of warranty.

If you keep replacing them in time, your tank will last a really really long time (30+ years)

.../j
 

Master Plumber Mark

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replaceing anodes how often???

I have always wondered if you actallly
replace the anode rods if the heater would
really actually last a lot longer...

or what other factors came into play ....like
high water pressure, minerals in the water
demand on the heater....ect..


I supppose if you did not have anything better to
worry about and could do it yourself, and could get the
rod out of the heater without a fight, it would be cost effective...

calling out a plumber would no tbe wise...


I wonder what the average time span would be
in between change outs???? 4- 5 years??
 

JCH

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It depends on how "hard" your water is. The harder the water going in to the heater, the more conductive the water and therefore the faster the anode will disappear.

And if you are unfortunate enough to have a water "softener" upstream of the tank (i.e. leading into it) then it'll really burn through your anodes in a hurry (6 months) because of the conductive salts that it adds to the water.

Typically, you'd take a peek after 2 years to get a feel for how fast the anode rod is being consumed. Here, our anodes last about 10 years, but we have the (naturally) softest water in North America (less than 10 grains).

A more typical lifetime is 5-6 years.

New anodes are only 20 bucks, so a very worthwhile investment. Much better than going through all the hassle of replacing a leaky tank (which, of course, always happens on weekends)

Most hot water tank warranties read: "only warranteed if the tank contains a *functioning* anode". i.e. they know it will only rust out if there is no anode left.

Hope this helps,
.../j
 

JCH

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I just double-checked with our water board--the water here is only 1.5 grains per gallon (!). No wonder our anodes last so long.

The other major determinant in hot water tank life is whether you've avoid other spots of dissimilar metals by using (non-conducting) dialectric connections between the (steel) tank and the (copper) plumbing in your home.

.../j
 
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