Home water heater anode rod after 9 years

[Wayne]

I pulled the rod out of our home water heater, just to see what kind of condition it's in after nine years. This rod is 48" long and it still in really good shape. It certainly has sacrificed some of the metal, but I'd say 80% of it is still there. The soft water here and the fact that the rod is so large, I believe this water heater anode will not need to be replaced for the lifetime of the tank.

 

[Azjeff]

Soft water is the key here. I really need to look at the anode rod in our 6 year old tank but it's attached under the cold water input and I don't want to disturb the plumbing. Our water has minerals.

 

[GON]

Wow, that is impressive. I switched over to electronic anode over metal anode to reduce potential smell in the water from the metal anode, and more importantly, super easy to inspect- anode rods can be a challenge to remove and replace if the water heater is in a confined location.

 

[Wayne]

Soft water is the key here. I really need to look at the anode rod in our 6 year old tank but it's attached under the cold water input and I don't want to disturb the plumbing. Our water has minerals.

This was our anode after 64 days in Arizona, the other 30 days was with the super soft Fort Collins water. I'll bet your anode is highly eroded.

Water Heater Sacrificial Anode after 94 days use

This anode was new before our winter trip. I am surprised how much of the sacrificial anode has corroded away in such a short time. The water in Arizona tastes like minerals so I'm guessing that's where most of the sacrificing happened. I will put this one back in and use it again. Has anyone...

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