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Had a talk with a water heater guy that changed how I look at efficiency
Met a plumber named Dave at a supply shop in Tucson last month who told me he always checks anode rods first before touching anything on water heaters. He said he's seen units that look fine but have totally shot rods, and replacing those saves more energy than a whole new unit. Anyone else run into customers ignoring anode rods until it's too late?
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grace50813d ago
Anode rods might save you a few years on a tank but theyre not some magic bullet for efficiency. The real energy hog is the insulation and the thermostat settings, not whether your rod is half eaten. Ive seen guys swap rods on a ten year old tank and call it a win, but the heating elements are still caked in scale and the burner is cycling twice as often. A new high efficiency unit with better insulation and a more precise control board will beat an old tank with a fresh rod every time, especially in a place like Tucson where ground water is hard and heat loss is a big deal. Dave probably sells more rods than he does water heaters, so of course hes going to talk them up.
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ryan_gibson8413d ago
Dave's not wrong about checking the rod first, but hard water scale on the elements is the real killer in Tucson. Fresh rod on a scaled-up tank is like swapping the oil filter on a seized engine.
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johnson.jason13d ago
Yeah I had a buddy who swore his water heater was running fine until his wife started complaining about lukewarm showers and it turned out the rod was completely gone and the tank was rusting from the inside out. Never even knew what an anode rod was until that plumber showed him the gunk.
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