Originally posted by Littlejoe
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BTW, I'm not the plumber, my Dad is so these are things I've learned from him...
Before you get started, close the shutoff valve (hopefully you have one, if not, shut off the water to the house), turn on the hot water at a faucet to relieve pressure, and I usually turn off the electricity (or turn the gas to pilot mode) on the heater. It never hurts to go ahead and open the drain valve near the bottom of the tank and drain out several gallons of water. This helps flush out junk in the bottom and you can see if you have any rust already in the tank.
If you have one of those hammer drills or impact wrenches they work the best. I have a battery powered one that works great. You just need to get it loosened, don't use the drill to take it all the way out. Most water heaters have a glass lining and banging the anode rod on the sides will crack the lining causing you more problems that the rod replacement helps. So just hit it with the drill and get it loose, then unscrew it the rest of the way by hand.
Before you get started, close the shutoff valve (hopefully you have one, if not, shut off the water to the house), turn on the hot water at a faucet to relieve pressure, and I usually turn off the electricity (or turn the gas to pilot mode) on the heater. It never hurts to go ahead and open the drain valve near the bottom of the tank and drain out several gallons of water. This helps flush out junk in the bottom and you can see if you have any rust already in the tank.
If you have one of those hammer drills or impact wrenches they work the best. I have a battery powered one that works great. You just need to get it loosened, don't use the drill to take it all the way out. Most water heaters have a glass lining and banging the anode rod on the sides will crack the lining causing you more problems that the rod replacement helps. So just hit it with the drill and get it loose, then unscrew it the rest of the way by hand.
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