Dripless

Adventure Location: Decatur, Alabama
Adventure Date: May 20, 2018
Click the picture to enlarge it.

It was that time again. Maintenance time that is. Water heater anode rod changing time. The OFM got on his getting wet clothing. Then he got the fresh water hose set up with the jet nozzle for flushing the tank. Then the tool box was robbed of the socket, wrench and teflon tape. Then he flushed the hot water out of the tank and turned off the heater switch. Next was turn off the water to the tank.

After doubling checking that everything was ready he put the wrench to the anode and started to remove it expecting a shower at any minute. BUT for the first time in his life he did things right and the anode rod unscrewed easily from the heater.

Then it got a bit more interesting. There was such a build up of rocks that the worn anode did not want to come out. So he back flushed the heater some through the clogged opening. That disturbed the rocks enough to let the worn anode come on out of the heater. Good grief it came a landslide of chunks of rocks out of the heater opening.

The water jet was activated and flushing commenced. Flush after flush was done until it seemed we had removed enough rocks to fill Palo Duro Canyon. Finally we could hear the water stream hitting the heater walls again. That was a nice sound. Here is a picture taken just after the flushing was finished.

Now it was time to put the new rod in. The teflon tape was carefully wrapped on the new rods threads. Then the rod was carefully threaded into the heater mounting hole. Careful tightening of the anode rod commenced. Firm tightness was achieved and not any over tightening.

The telling moment was here. The water was turned back on and the heater filled. The air was all burped out of the heater and we let it sit under pressure for a few minutes as things were put away and the area cleaned up.

The moment of truth was upon us. A dry paper towel was wiped on the under side of the anode mount. NO LEAKING WATER WAS EVIDENT. The OFM wanted to dance a jig but he was not coordinated enough. So he was happy to just smile big. Having a job go right is a great way of having tooooo much fun.