Water heater cut open

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In the spirit of oil filter cut and posts, I humbly present a 40 gallon electric water heater cut and post. The heater was in one of my rentals and started producing much less hot water. The tenant has been there 11 years, is great to work with and always pays on time. In my rental market, tenants like this are magical golden unicorns. I immediately changed the water heater rather than swapping parts. The heater is a 2006 Whirlpool model with 6 year warranty. The anode rod is completely gone and only the rusty steel center wire remains. The steel center wire broke apart when I touched it. There is about a gallon of "gravel" in the bottom. The dip tube looks good and is intact. If this were in my home, I would have changed the anode. I think this heater would have lasted another 10 years, as there was zero corrosion on the steel shell. Our local water company is expensive, but, the PH of the water is adjusted to minimize corrosion.

Hope the photos post OK. If they do not I will try again.

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Once the anode rod is gone, it's the tank that will start rusting out. Usually the rest of it will be fine, but there will be one weak spot and it'll start to leak there. The time to replace the rod is probably at 4-5 years. Some factory rods are only 5/8 thick, but the thickest I've seen is a .9 inch one which should last longer than the factory one. Did a bunch of them 5-6 years ago and they're still going strong. Should take them out now to check them.
 
Why not replace it merely because it was a rental? It's still a failure. I'd replace more often than every 5 years if it's hard water, they can get stuck and hard to get off if you wait that long, or take it off new and put some food safe grease on the threads.
 
Why not just buy a new annode and replace it snout the time the warranty is up or say 5 years. That and draining it every year or 2 will keep them going long beyond that warranty date.
 
Our house was built in 2000. The water heater failed in the winter of 2015. I know it was the original because there was an inspection sticker on it. It weighed about 50 pounds than the replacement did, all of which was calcium carbonate deposition.

Fortunately it was a slow leak and not a catastrophic failure, so the basement was wet but not flooded. The basemen is semi-finished and they had framed around it...and the hole was about 1" narrower than the old unit. I had to do Sawzall surgery to get it out
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Your post makes me want to look into the possibility of finding a replacement anode rod and installing it in 3-4 years.
 
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Originally Posted by Dave9
Why not replace it merely because it was a rental? It's still a failure. I'd replace more often than every 5 years if it's hard water, they can get stuck and hard to get off if you wait that long, or take it off new and put some food safe grease on the threads.

Originally Posted by Driz
Why not just buy a new annode and replace it snout the time the warranty is up or say 5 years. That and draining it every year or 2 will keep them going long beyond that warranty date.

Originally Posted by Elkins45
Fortunately it was a slow leak and not a catastrophic failure, so the basement was wet but not flooded.
Repairs of even a single room will be more expensive than a new water heater, not to mention if you have to find temporary accommodations for the tenant or damage to their property.
 
Thanks for the pics. My rheem tankless bit the bullet last Monday. Went back to the old tank power vent gas water heater.

Darn parts on the tankless went after 8 years and the cost of parts is nuts.
 
Thanks for the cut & post.

Question: Where does your local water company get the water that you would have 1 gallon of gravel ?
I could see if your water came from your own water well, but Municipal water ?

I installed a Ball-Valve in mine to get a good flow when draining to check for sediment.

[Linked Image]
 
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Wow!

I don't think any of those pebbles would make it to my water heater before getting stuck in a valve.
 
You built yourself a nice "freeze resistant" goat watering trough, there

Originally Posted by JTK
Wow!
I don't think any of those pebbles would make it to my water heater before getting stuck in a valve.


They didn't come in with the cold water - - they were *created INSIDE* of the water heater
 
At first I thought it was weird, but now I like where the water heater is in my house. It is in its own closet for lack of a better term that opens to the outside.
 
Exactly bdcardinal! Mine is located in its own little hut outside the house. Changing it out was a 1 hour affair. And thanks Oldtom for the pictures- very interesting! I for one have never seen the inside of a water heater; now I know what they look like.
 
Most of "gravel" is not rocks and stones, it is the calcium that has precipitated. The calcium hardness comes through in solution. Upon heating it it begins to precipitate and collects in the bottom of the heater as a rocky sludge. I have seen heaters so full of it that it clogs the drain on the water heater and plugs it shut.
 
This heater was nearly impossible to drain. I had to backflush the garden hose with compressed air about every 15 minutes. The garden hose would drain well after backflushing then stop draining as the mineral deposits clogged the line again. If I ever change another water heater, I will use a pump to drain it from the top.

Going forward, I am going to change the anode every 5 years. I have read that you need an impact gun to break them loose.
 
Originally Posted by Oldtom

Going forward, I am going to change the anode every 5 years. I have read that you need an impact gun to break them loose.



Didn't use an impact gun on mine. Did 8 of them, regular 1/2 inch breaker bar 18 inches long did 4 of them. Had to add a 3 foot pipe and some Kroil to get the other 4.
 
I keep going back and forth on anode replacement, I'm thinking replacing the entire tank every 10 years is the way to go.
 
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