Installing new anode rod

2oldman wrote:

Dusty R wrote:
I remove the anode rod and never had a problem.

Why?

Reasons to remove Anode

What Causes the Sulfur Smell?

A disgusting sulfur or rotten egg smell in your hot water can be due to many reasons. The two most popular reasons are the presence of a sulphate-reducing bacteria in the water heater or a chemical reaction between the magnesium anode in the water heater and the hot water. These two issues are fairly easy to solve and fix.

#2. Replacing the Magnesium Anode with an Aluminum Anode or Something Else

Sometimes, the smell is caused by a weird reaction between the magnesium anode rod and the hot water in the tank.



Generally, if you live in a area where you have a very high dissolved iron/mineral content in the water, you have a very good chance of this reaction.

In my area, not unusual for folks to remove or cut off anode rods to eliminate the foul odor.. Not saying one should do this as it risks having the water heater corrosion being much faster but it does correct the nasty foul odor you get in your face in a shower..

Must be winter time if a topic like this is on it's second page already!

profdant139 wrote:
Sometimes the water in Yuma has a funny smell -- if you can detect it, you have a well developed scents of Yuma. ;)

But I like your sense of Yuma.

Then you have anodes that don't wear out. This is 5 years of full-time use West Coast.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Then you have anodes that don't wear out. This is 5 years of full-time use West Coast.

Do you have any filtration? thinking I need to add a sacrificial particulate filter to my intake and it might slow down the anode's demise.

way2roll wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Then you have anodes that don't wear out. This is 5 years of full-time use West Coast.

Do you have any filtration? thinking I need to add a sacrificial particulate filter to my intake and it might slow down the anode's demise.

I have a 3/4" whole house filter that all water goes thru.

way2roll wrote:

Do you have any filtration? thinking I need to add a sacrificial particulate filter to my intake and it might slow down the anode's demise.

Speed of deterioration depends on what is in the water mineral wise and ph levels of the water.

High dissolved mineral content (AKA "hard" water) in water definitely takes a toll on metal plumbing and valves. The minerals in the water are what increases electrical conductivity of water and reacts with metals that it comes into contact with creating a galvanic action (sort of like a battery) electrical currents that eat away at the metal.

The anode is designed to be "sacrificial" and gives up it's life to extend the life of the tank.

Finding out what levels and types of dissolved minerals exactly is in your water and the Ph level may shed some light on why the anode is wearing out fast. Standard off the shelf filters do not filter down small enough to filter dissolved minerals, they are more about catching dirt.. For homes a water softener can remove enough minerals to help, RVs that may be a bit complicated to do easily.. But if Ph is off then you will need other treatments also.

I have very hard water with very high iron levels, can't drink the water directly as it comes out of the well red colored.. Run that through a whole house 10 micron sediment filter to remove dirt and large iron particles and that goes to a softener system that uses brine for backwashes. Result is good drinking water.

Skipg wrote:
We have a 2020 TT we bought new. Used it full time for 5 months. I did maintenance on the suburban water heater. Anode rod 80% gone, and when I flushed the tank I got about a cup of sediment that washed out. This seems like a lot of sediment for 5 months. Is this unusual?
Thanks for your input.

Yup. it's not unusual... Same with your water heater at home by the way.

Skipg wrote:
...and when I flushed the tank I got about a cup of sediment that washed out.

That sounds about normal for full time usage.

If I were full timing in an RV, I'd probably flush the WH about once a month. I'd also carry a spare anode rod onboard.

Every RVer needs one of these for water heater maintenance

deltabravo wrote:


Every RVer needs one of these for water heater maintenance

Another option is to just use 5' of cheap clear plastic hose. With water heater full, pump off, open a faucet to bleed off pressure. This leaves the water heater full, but zero pressure.

Remove the anode/drain plug, insert one end of the hose, suck on the other end to start a siphon. Move the tank end around to "vacuum" the bottom of the tank. Since the hose is clear, easy to tell if you have all the sediment out. If really bad, may have to turn on pump, refill and repeat.