Winterizing HW Heater

[GlasNav]

Does anybody else do this? When winterizing the hot water heater, after draining and hosing out the tank, I don't screw the plug and anode back into the tank. Instead, I shove a piece of plastic screening in the opening to keep out debris and bugs, allowing the tank to breathe. Then store the plug / anode inside the trailer.

[dutchmensport]

Nope, I do not, never have (except once ... learned the hard way).

After draining, I always re-insert the anode rod. But, I do not tighten it. I just make it loose-finger tight. Why?

I learned the hard way, that if I do not keep the anode rod plug inside the hole, the threads on the water heater AND the threads on the anode rod plug will rust up ... really, really bad, making it almost impossible to re-insert the anode rod when it's time.

So, inserting the anode rod keeps the threads from rusting up. And NOT making the anode tight, makes it easy to remove when setting up the water heater again.

Basically, the reason I re-insert the rod is so the threads do not rust up. The one time I thought I could skip this was the last. It was a nightmare cleaning the threads and then getting the rust garbage out from inside the tank because of all the flaking with a wire brush. Nope, never again!

[chuckster57]

We leave the anode rod in the water heater compartment and then use a 3/4” NPT tap to clean the threads. Tap is $12.00 on Amazon.

[NH_Bulldog]

I don't have a hot water heater, but on my water heater (no anode rod), I turn the bypass, remove the plastic drain plug and leave it in the water heater compartment so I know where it is in the spring. There are no chances of bugs from when I winterize until I de-winterize, so I am not worried about bugs or debris finding their way up inside the unit.

[GlasNav]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

There are no chances of bugs from when I winterize until I de-winterize, so I am not worried about bugs or debris finding their way up inside the unit.

Not the case here in Kansas, we can be down in the neggies, frozen over with ice and a week later have a warm up into the upper 60s. Nothing like Southerly flow from the Gulf, down flow from the Rockies to the West and Alberta Clipper action from the North. Gee, I wonder why we are one of the starting points for nasty supercells and tornadic activity....