To a Suburban water heater from Atwood

[rmnpcolorado]

I feel like a rookie asking this question, but we've always had Atwood water heaters and our new trailer has a Suburban. I've never had to deal with an anode rod before. With our Atwood, I installed a petcock and we drained the tank after every use-never had an issue with the sulfur smell.

On the Suburban, how do you go about that? We typically are weekenders except for our long trips where we don't empty the tank when moving obviously, so after the weekend we'd open up the valve and run it empty. Do you pull the anode rod out? Leave it full? Pull the low point valve and drain out as much as you can?

Like I said, we are not rookies, but going to be learning new tricks with a new rig after 12 seasons on the last one.

[afidel]

BB_TX wrote:

afidel wrote:
When flushing out the anode junk from the tank make very sure you remove all debris from the threads! I failed to do so and zipped the new rod back on with my little impact, the gunk permanently sealed the new rod in place, not even my much bigger impact at home could make it budge.

Impact is the wrong tool for an anode rod. It has pipe threads. Between those threads and some teflon tape it does not need more than tightening to a snug fit with a ratchet. This is not a place for "if tight is good, tighter is better". Actually few places are. An impact is a great tool for loosening bolts. But a properly set torque wrench is best for tightening them.

I doubt the little m12 could actually overtighten that huge thing but what it did do was grind the metal particles between the threads, I knew I messed up as soon as I heard the crunching.

[mhsmith]

BB_TX wrote:

afidel wrote:
When flushing out the anode junk from the tank make very sure you remove all debris from the threads! I failed to do so and zipped the new rod back on with my little impact, the gunk permanently sealed the new rod in place, not even my much bigger impact at home could make it budge.

Impact is the wrong tool for an anode rod. It has pipe threads. Between those threads and some teflon tape it does not need more than tightening to a snug fit with a ratchet. This is not a place for "if tight is good, tighter is better". Actually few places are. An impact is a great tool for loosening bolts. But a properly set torque wrench is best for tightening them.

"Tight is tight, too tight is broke"

[BB_TX]

afidel wrote:
When flushing out the anode junk from the tank make very sure you remove all debris from the threads! I failed to do so and zipped the new rod back on with my little impact, the gunk permanently sealed the new rod in place, not even my much bigger impact at home could make it budge.

Impact is the wrong tool for an anode rod. It has pipe threads. Between those threads and some teflon tape it does not need more than tightening to a snug fit with a ratchet. This is not a place for "if tight is good, tighter is better". Actually few places are. An impact is a great tool for loosening bolts. But a properly set torque wrench is best for tightening them.

[afidel]

When flushing out the anode junk from the tank make very sure you remove all debris from the threads! I failed to do so and zipped the new rod back on with my little impact, the gunk permanently sealed the new rod in place, not even my much bigger impact at home could make it budge.

[MitchF150]

What MFL said.. 🙂 Even when I had the Atwood on the previous trailer, I would do the low point drain and relief valve on the water heater to drain it.

I only use my home water in the thing, so not too worried about sediment, but with the Suburban, I will pull the rod when it gets winterized to just check out it's condition.

Good luck! Mitch

[MFL]

Yes, you can open the low point drain, lift the pressure relief valve on the heater, to drain the water heater. Even if you take the anode out to drain, it will not all drain.

It is a good idea to pull the anode 1-2 times a year, and flush the sediment from the bottom of the tank, with a wand. To remove all water from tank, you will need to use a shop vac, with a small flex hose added, to suck out the last of the water.

Be sure the electric heating element is switched off, before emptying the tank!

Jerry

[wildtoad]

What BB_TX said.

[BB_TX]

Pull the anode rod to drain. I always left mine full thru the travel season and drain in the fall. And a new anode rod in the spring. Although they would probably last two years.

Get a flush wand. The crud from the anode rod settles to the bottom and needs to be flushed out yearly or so.