hey guys Roger Wakefield here the expert plumber coming to you this morning to
talk to you about what is an anode rod some people have no idea what an anode
rod is some people have never heard of it so what we're gonna talk about today
is what they are what they do what they're made of and we're gonna let them
know why they're important to you and the life of your water heater so what is
an anode rod first of all an anode rod if you look on top of your water heater
you've got a nut that is buried down inside the cover and there's a little
plastic piece around it or the the lid of the cover goes down around it and
what you do is the anode rod is a long rod that's made out of magnesium
aluminum an alloy aluminum zinc something like that and the whole
purpose of an anode rod that they call them a sacrificial anode rod and the
reason they call them this is is the life of the anode rod is not very long
meaning your water heaters designed the last 6, 8, 12 years whatever it is
an anode rod is actually the rod that goes down in the middle of it and over
the course of time these little bitty cracks or holes start developing in the
side of your water heater and before that can happen the the anode rod will
dissolve and whatever's on it the magnesium zinc aluminum whatever it is
will go and fill in that hole and kind of plug it up so an anode rod really is
in there to make your water heater last longer now they call it a sacrificial
anode rod because it starts at the bottom and it dissolves on the way up
and it goes out and literally plugs all these little microscopic cracks and
holes in your water heater to keep it from ever leaking the good thing about
it is that makes your water heater last longer now the good thing is also you
can change your anode rod so let's start off what does an anode rod do actually
it's threaded to the top of your water heater it goes
almost all the way to the bottom and like I said as those cracks and holes
appear the anode rod starts dissolving from the bottom up and goes out and
plugs these and it gets in it fills these in and this keeps your your water
heater from leaking so it's gonna make it last longer because of course if it's
not leaking you don't have to replace it so like I said while I go briefly there
they're made out of magnesium they're made out of aluminum zinc and an ally
and what they do there there it's coated around a steel rod and it's funny
because when you see an anode rod that's wasted that is completely sacrificed
itself when you pull them out that steel rod is about the size of a clothes
hanger it is literally reduced down to nothing now what I learned at Bradford
white whenever I went on the tour of their facility which their facility is
phenomenal but when I went on a tour there the one
thing that I learned and took away is the anode rod literally sacrifices
itself pretty much in the first year so I've read different articles saying that
by changing your anode rod you can double the life of your water heater so
if it is pretty much sacrificed itself completely in the first year that tells
me okay at the end of the first year change out the anode rod and that's
gonna make your water heater last twice as long now of course you still need to
flush it you still need to do the different things that you do but that's
how you're gonna make your water heater last longer and just like anything else
the longer you make it last the better ROI you got on it your return
on investment is well worth it then so how do you change your anode rod first
of all you turn the water off to your water heater either open your
temperature and pressure-relief valve or open the drain valve on the bottom if
you've been flushing your water heater on a regular basis like you're supposed
to go ahead and flush it right before you do this then you know that drain
valve is operating correctly it cycled well on and off go ahead
flush it before you do this then turn off the water
to the water heater drain your and when I say drain it down just open enough all
you're trying to do is take the pressure off take the pressure completely off if
you've got a two-story house or a lot of water lines ran over your head you may
want to drain it down just a little bit further because when you take a big
socket and bust open that nut on top to free up your anode rod unscrew it and
then slowly pull it out now guys depending on where you're located or
where your water heater is located me I would have to have a collapsible or
sectional anode rod it looks like three pieces of rod joined together by like a
swivel like a if you're a fisherman you know all about a swivel hook or a swivel
to put on a hook so what the way mine's installed I don't have a lot of room
above it not enough to stick like a 4-foot rod down in it so what you would
have to do is take your socket take that big nut loosen it up pull your anode
right out and then may I'd have to take my little one stick it in one section at
a time get it down line my threads up guys when
you change your anode rod make sure you put some kind of a thread protect that
on it I like using teflon tape and pipe dope I use both because I don't want it
to leak so you take the old one out you put the new one in make sure that you
slowly turn your water back on check it for leaks real good and make sure you
don't have any leaks around it guys that's really all there is to it
if you've got plenty of room above it say you're in an attic and you've got a
large attic and you've got plenty of space above your water heater take your
anode rod loosen it up pull it out you can take an entire new one four or five
feet long however long they are slide it down in the top go all the way down to
the bottom again use your thread protectant teflon tape pop dope whatever you
want to put on it when I do it I put teflon tape on first
then I go back and put the t plus two pipe dope around that and tighten it up in
there get it good and snug you'll notice that when you go to pull that anode rod out
it is tight it is in there very tight we've actually got a plumber that
actually uses an impact wrench to break those loose so guys changing them out
isn't anything hard to do is something that you can do at home is something
that you can do like I said after about a year that is going to help you extend
the life of your water heater now if your anode rod and your hot water inlet
are built together Bradford White does this their hot water
inlet is also or their hot water outlet is also there anode rod so if you don't
see a nut on the top of years or you have a Bradford white water heater and
there may be one or two other brands doing that now I think it's a great idea
you would still what you need to do then is disconnect your hot water line so
whenever I say take the pressure off you're gonna want to drain down that
water heater enough that whenever you disconnect your hot water line you don't
get water everywhere now I believe when you're taking everything apart put
towels up there I catch everything that way you don't have a big mess to clean
up later disconnect the hot water line then what you're gonna do is you're
gonna take that hot water adapter out now that adapter is actually a
dielectric Union or a dielectric nipple so that's what one thing I really like
about Bradford white you've got your dielectric nipple
you've got your anode rod you've got your hot water outlet all right there
and one thing what that does is that helps eliminate the number of outlets on
the tank that could possibly leak so you're gonna find out okay now that I
disconnect this water how do I get that anode rod out without literally messing
up the threads completely now remember you're replacing this so if you do mess
them up it's not too bad but so you're just wanting to check that rod what
you can do is take like a 1/2 inch I'm sorry a 3/4 inch black steel T
thread it on to that nipple tighten it up until you see that nipple move then
loosen it back up that's gonna undo the nipple it's going to break the threads
on the tank break them loose then make it where you can pull it out even easier
so guys today we've talked about what is an anode rod what does it have no rod do
what does an anode rod made of and how do I change out my anode rod guys
anode rods are very simple it's a very simple investment that can help you
double the life of your water heater or at least extend it no matter what it
does to help me extend it it makes it well worth it and helps improve your
investment and helps you take care of the things that help you take care of
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it out there my name is Roger Wakefield with Texas
Green Plumbing and we're helping you save money one drop at a time thank you