Electric Impact Wrench to remove Anode Rod

[Clarence Martinn]

Roughly how long should it take to remove an anode Rod using an Impact Wrench?

[Tom M King]

three seconds

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

Or 3 years if the nut snaps off of the rod and just spins

[Clarence Martinn]

Or 3 years if the nut snaps off of the rod and just spins

What's the odds of that happening ?

[lowell holmes]

Sometimes a bit of gentle heat helps. You only want to warm up the outside, not the rod.

[Roger Feeley]

My water heater is an AOSmith so the anode rod is part of one of the water connections. Grrr...
What’s the consensus on those permanent electric anodes?

[Scott T Smith]

The last one that I did took about 10 seconds. 9 seconds of that was alternating between tightening for a second and then loosening for a second.

Alternating directions helps them to break free.

[Donald G. Burns]

Just replaced my "builder special comes with" 85 gal tank on Friday after finding an increasing in size puddle of water on the basement floor. Replaced like for like due to SWMBO wanting hot water ASAP and so both old and new tanks do not have a replaceable anode rod. One more way of insuring the need to replace the whole darn thing more often. :mad: OBTW, the concrete floor was poured so the water runs away from the sump and the sump pump and into my shop. :eek: At least the new tank has a pan under it. Just have to remember to flush the new tank once a year.

[Josh Belleville]

Hit mine with a little penetrating oil the day before, came right loose.

Just remember to turn off the water, and hope you can get the rod in without cutting it, like mine. The jointed ones are ridiculously expensive.

[Tom M King]

I asked my plumbing supply house once if they sold segmented anode rods. The answer was, "We sell the water heaters."

[Peter Kelly]

Roughly how long should it take to remove an anode Rod using an Impact Wrench?Shouldn't take much, my last one was 3-5 seconds with an impact driver. Be sure to use a 6-point socket, magnesium and aluminium are pretty soft so a 12-point one can strip the head pretty easily. If you have the space, a 1/2" drive breaker bar is probably the safest route.

[Mike Henderson]

A bit off topic but my tankless water heater has been a wonderful replacement for my tank heater.

Mike

[Roger Feeley]

+1 on tankless. We had one for years on our previous house. The only bother is cleaning it once a year. But a cheap HF garden hose pump and about 4 gallons of white vinegar and it’s easy.

when we built our current house on our daughters land, running natural gas to it would have been $10K. An electric would have required a beefed up service. So our house is all electric and we have a tank heater. Sigh...

[Bruce Wrenn]

Been in our house forty years next month. We are on second water heater (propane gas.) First ( expensive brand from plumbing supply house) failed after only eighteen years. Gas valve started to malfunction. Cheap (6 year) from Lowes has now been in for 22 years. In the past, RUUD water came with either a six, or nine year warranty. To get nine year warranty, installer had to add second anode to tank. About ten years ago, I replaced a WH for a customer. House was built in 1959, which meant WH had been in for over 50 years. It was a "Glass Lined" from Sears. Empty, it weighed over 400#, till we got it outside and flushed the sand from inside tank Yes, it was still making hot water. Only replaced as part of a remodel project.

[Robert D Evans]

Or 3 years if the nut snaps off of the rod and just spins
You'll either fix it or fix it where nobody can fix it.

[Alan Lightstone]

+1 on tankless too.

I've had two friend's houses get massively damaged by leaking water heaters when they were on vacation. Builders putting them in attic in one house. That one developed a massive leak, and destroyed the whole floor below it. They came in to their house and needed boots.

Only downside I've seen to tankless is that water is slow going up to 3rd floor and kitchen on 2nd floor. We fixed the kitchen problem with a small electric tank heater underneath it. As far as the 3rd floor, it's the price we paid to dramatically lower our electric bills and not worry about leaks.

Anyway, good luck with the anode rod. Hopefully a quick fix.

[Jack Frederick]

Many years ago I represented John Wood water heaters, a Canadian company. To my mind they were a superior product. They have been bought up by someone and I am not sure if they use the same process in manuf, but to me it was superior. Glass lined tanks suffer from "burn-back" in the area of the tank penetrations. A manuf takes a sheet of steel and punches the holes, welds the adapters, rolls it and welds it into a cylinder and caps. They run it the glass gun into it, shoot the glass and run it through the furnace to cure the glass. Now, the burn back process I liken to the guy at the end of Raider of the Lost Arc opening the Arc. He lifts the lids and the spirits race out around and through everything. The same is happening to the water heater as the flue gases in this industrial furnace cooks the glass the velocity of the flame through the open tank penetrations burns the glass back from around the penetration. 95% of tank failures take place at a penetration as a result. Once the anode is gone the next best thing to eat is the tank. JW had a process with a SS knock out plug that was used during the glass operation. Once the tank came out of the furnace they would knock out the insert and you ended up with a good glass to opening interface. A pretty slick operation.
Having represented Rinnai for 27 yrs I am a tankless guy through and through, but regardless what type WH you use you need to know the chemical composition of your water. If you are on a municipal system the water board will send you the analysis at your request. If on a well, the water labs will give you the bottles and instructions for taking a sample for analysis.

[Bill Dufour]

First step is to wirebrush all the crud off the threads. then fill it with your choice of penetrating oil. Check it everyday and top up the oil each day so the threads are submerged. Wait about one week then use the wrenches on it. I would always try to tighten it first before breaking it free in the unscrew direction. That way if the torque is too high you break things off in the seal direction not the unseal direction. If you do start unscrew direction it may move a hair then snap off. Now you have a leak and you must do something NOW! If it breaks off in the screw it together direction hopefully it will not leak and you have time to think of a plan.
The Ford spark plug removal process is the flood with penetrating oil method and rock the threads back and forth to allow the oil to seep down all the the threads while it is submerged in oil. On a Ford failure to do this may strip the threads in the cylinder head or break the sparkplug in two leaving some behind in the cylinder to be removed.
BILL D

[Peter Kelly]

+1 on tankless too.I changed my last anode rod before replacing everything with a tankless Navien Combi boiler. Can’t imagine going back.