Powered Anodes???

[Murphy625]

Hi folks,
I had started another thread about my water heater sending gritty black particles to my faucets and discovered it was in fact the anode corroding away.

I pulled the anode and cut it off to temporarily stop the problem. Now I need to replace it with something before I bust a $500 water heater.

The anode was sending gritty black particulates that dried to a hard crusty / sandy crude in the dishwasher and settled to the bottom in pots of boiling water. Very annoying. There was very little smell that my wife said she noticed but I never noticed it.

Anyhow, the anode I pulled out was pitted, corroded, and solid black and dark gray from top to bottom. I would say it was probably 25% gone with 75% life remaining. It probably looked worse than it was but the gritty stuff was destroying the seals in my water faucets.

So, I'm looking for solutions.

My water heater is 1 year old and we have softened well water.

Anyone have any experience with powered anodes? Any other suggestions?

 

[Reach4]

Anyone have any experience with powered anodes? Any other suggestions?

I have one. I would do it again, although I could have just put in a conventional replacement anode. They are not cheap, but I suspect that you will find that water heaters cost more than they used to. And it should be moveable to a new WH if it comes to that.

If you do get a WH, note that some don't have a conventional anode, but rather have a combo anode shared with the hot port. That can still use a powered anode, but it requires a little extra mounting stuff, which is available.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Murphy625]

What powered anode did you buy? My heater has a separate anode port so not a problem.

 

[Reach4]

The one from http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/pages/WHRpages/English/OrderPages/XCart/Power-Anode.html

There was shipping charge, so I am thinking it was about $246 with shipping. Not cheap, but I expect it will protect as well or better than a magnesium anode. Plus it will not react with sulfur compounds.

I used teflon tape, and only tightened to what I would estimate to be 10 ft-lb. No need to use really big torque. I did check that there was continuity from the anode to the tank. The threads cut through the teflon tape, even at my fairly low torque.

I removed the anode temporarily a few months later to use the hole to help flush the water heater. I have a well, and the water heater had been in service long before I put in my filters. There was a lot of stuff in the bottom of the heater; that could not make it through the filters I have in place now.

 

[Murphy625]

I just bought one from the link you posted.
Thanks!

 

[Reach4]

I am on a deep well. WH and well pre-dated my arrival by many years. With the WH anode removed, I flushed my water heater. After draining, I put a 3/4 inch nipple instead of the plastic drain. Then I placed a plastic bin under the output to catch stuff. I initially pumped from the bin to the tub to get a lot of flow and catch the debris. Surprising amount. Emptied the bin a few times-- it was not filled with debris, but I wanted to minimize recirc of sludge. I would estimate that the total debris would correspond to maybe 3/8 inch if spread across the bottom of the WH. I did not flow into the drain initially because I did not want little rock and sand in my drain.

After a while I switched to draining the tub to the drain with siphon. I intermittently turned the water on to the heater to make turbulence and wash out more. My filters that I had added will keep any new such debris from occurring after that flush.

I had put a full-flow ball valve on the nipple right away. In retrospect, I might have gotten a longer 3/4 NPT nipple, used it temporarily, and then put the plastic drain valve back when done. My thought was that having the valve could let me build some water up, and then release it all at once. I am now thinking that the turbulence of the incoming water was more effective than building up water that I would later release.