Collection 1

Collection 1

Water heaters have become expensive. When they were cheap, it made sense to take a chance that they may last long but if not, replace them every few years. But now it makes sense to do periodic maintenance to make them last as long as possible. This is not meant to be a "how to" guide, but to show what is done and explain the need for maintenance. FIRST and most importantly, shut off the power supply to the Water Heater at the main breaker box. IF YOU DO NOT you will damage the unit and risk lethal electric shock!

A water heater should be flushed out at least once every 2 years, or more often depending on local conditions. After making sure the power is cut off, Shut of the water supply to the tank, open all the hot water faucets in the house to allow air venting. Then, attach a hose to the drain valvle at the bottom of the unit. Then insert a screwdriver into the slot on the handle to open the valve. This will allow most of the water to drain.

The other end of the hose should drain to a lower elevation; the lower the better to form a suction siphon. Many kinds of metals, silts, sands and other tiny solid materials have settled to the bottom of the tank. These should be flushed out periodically. If not, they will build up and cause early failure of the tank. Once the water has all drained out, turn on the water supply to the unit. This will force a stream of fresh water to rinse out the lower portion of the tank, where most of the build up has occurred. Let the water run at full force for a couple minutes, then shut off the water supply to the tank. Then shut off the drain valve with a screwdriver. The flush operation is finished.

If flushes are done frequently (yearly), then with every other flush, conduct an anode rod inspection. Since there are some electrolytes in tap water, and there are metals in the tank materials, electro-chemical transfer will occur; electrons from one metal will transfer to another metal, such as what happens in a battery, or in a galvanizing process. This leads to deterioration of the materials, and hence early failure of the unit. For this reason, the makers include an anode rod placed near the center of the liquid. The rod consists of a metal that will absorb the electrons, and deteriorate faster than the other metals in the tank. Thus, prolonging the life of the unit. However, this sacrificial rod will eventually deteriorate so much, or become ineffective. Therefore it should be replaced. Here is a new anode rod in its package.

You can find the access to the anode rod at the top of the unit, somewhere near the center. On this Whirlpool/ A O Smith model, you can see the black access plug near the hot and cold pipes. It is just a thin plastic pop off cover on the steel jacket; it just pops off with a screwdriver.

Now you can see the hex plug which is the top of the anode rod. This one is a 27mm hex. Only persons who understand the potential of cross-threading, and are a perfectionist when it comes to aligning, turning and torquing bolts should attempt this. Use a breaker bar, extension, and proper socket to remove this anode rod, taking care to remember the amount of force used on the breaker bar.

I find that a 16 guage solid conductor loop works well to lift the rod to the point where you can grab it with your hand. The hole is so deep that you can barely get 2 fingers into it. If you have a powerful magnet that you can lower down the hole, that may work. Or if you have some kind of long nose clamp, or tiny puller with thin arms you can try that. If all that fails, make your tool to extract the rod.

Here the anode rod is pulled up to ceiling and there is just enough slack in the hole to lean it past the slope of the stairwell above, and get it out of the tank. You can get anode rods that are segment in a chain to get into tight spaces.

Now you can inspect the anode rod. In some cases it will be distenegrated to the wire core. Or it may be partially distenegrated. Depending on how much meat is left, and how long ago it had been installed, you can guage how much time you have left. Notice that this rod has not deteriorated much even after 6 years. This is rare. However, it has instead become somewhat of a limestone stalactite, and thus the exposed surface area of the metal has severely decreased, thereby substantially reducing the effectiveness. Therefore, it will be replaced. Apparantly the river water source of the town water system runs through limestone rich mountains. Thus I should be flushing this unit yearly.

A slightly closer view. If you click on this picture, you will get a larger view in a new tab in your browser, where you may expand it further by pressing CTRL+ key combo.

This is the empty hole before insertion of the new anode rod. You need to be sure that you lower the anode rod perfectly straight so that the threads will contact properly to avoid cross threading. Very important because this fit must seal water pressure plus the additional pressure of the heated, closed container.

The rod is in, and has been tightened down enough to seal. The 3 most common mistakes novices make when building or repairing are; 1. Cross threading. This may well likely damage the unit and make it unusable. 2. Over- torquing. Novices think that when in doubt, over-torquing is better. This also causes damage, especially when it is cross threaded to begin with. 3. Under-torquing. But this is the rarest, and can often be remedied. But leaking and spraying of a 240 Volt unit will lead to a dangerous electrical hazard.

Finally, be sure this drain valve is shut off. With all the hot water faucets in the house still open, turn on the water supply to the water heater. when the air stops spouting from all the faucets, shut them off.

Before turning on the breaker, Here's another tip for prolonging the life of a water heater. check the temperature setting on both thermostats. (they are located by removing the bulging plates, one of which can be seen in the previous slide.) If you lower the temperature to the point where you don't have to mix cold water into your hot water, you not only reduce your electric bill, but you prolong the life of the unit. For late Spring through Summer and early fall, I turn the temperature down to 120F (49C). Then, I can take baths and showers with little or no cold water mixing. Then for the colder months, I raise it up to 130F (55C). Even with this setting, I need to mix in a little cold water in the winter. Finally, one more way to prolong the life and save money is to use a timer to heat the water before you major usages and shut off as soon as bath or shower is finished.