Replaced anode and some questions

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friendly_jacek

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Hi,
I just signed up to ask this.

Here is my question. My gas heater is about 15 years old. I drain it periodically and get little if any deposits. This is because my local city water is almost minerals free. I could not measure a difference by ohmmeter between water from faucet and distilled water bought at a supermarket.

Just recently, I drained it again and notices the first gallon looking a bit yellow and rusty. Then I realized I never checked anode and it must be gone by now.

It took me a few attempts to remove the anode (I had to buy impact wrench and sockets).

It's in better shape than I thought it would be. Maybe like 25% gone. The picture shows the only spot with steel wire exposed. I put a small amount of bleach in and installed a new anode. Then I run hot water in all pipes to distribute diluted bleach. The first faucet I opened belched lots of air followed by some rusty looking water again.

Where is the rust coming from if the anode was still good and the pipes are copper?

Thanks!

BTW, the anti-bot question during the signup was about boiling dry ice. Hello, dry ice sublimates and doesn't boil (basic physics)!
 
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Reach4

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It is possible that at least part of the residual material on the rod is aluminum oxide or other compound. So the rust could have been from part of the water heater. Putting your new anode in was a good move.

To flush the debris from the water heater, you can drain the water. Then turn on the supply pipe on full with the drain open. Turn off the water until most of the draining stops. Repeat. The surge can help wash stuff out. You could also have put your wand from the pressure washer in there. I replaced my side faucet with a 3/4 NPT schedule 80 CPVC nipple followed by a ball valve. Since my water is well water, I wanted a nice big path for flushing.

I used teflon tape when putting the new anode back. It sounds stupid, but the threads cut right through in places, so there is still a good electrical connection. I only used what I would estimate to be 10 ft-lb (could have been a little more) when putting the anode in place. They are way over-torqued from the factory in many people's opinion, including mine.

Nice that you have that low TDS water.
 
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