Reliance 9001829005 32-Inch Magnesium Water Heater Anode Rod

Good to replace these every 6 to 10 years, depending on your water quality and use patterns. It can extend the useful life you obtain from your water heater.

work great

Hard to say how well this 32" Magnesium anode rod performed. But what I can say is, the photos show what the anode rod looked like after exactly 13 months of being in our water heater.Unfortunately 13 months after installing the rod, we were in a prime position to have a new water heater installed for a descent price, so I removed this rod and photographed it before they brought the old tank to the scrap pile.We are on city water. And the interior of the tank was in fairly good shape when the rod was installed. A bore camera inspection revealed only a couple of places where there was visible rust when the rod was installed. But there was a lot of white scum at the bottom of the tank. Not sure if these factors play a role in the life (or degradation) of the rod. But to me this is evidence that the rod should be replaced as needed to prolong the life of the inner wall of the tank.

I bought this "used, like new" from Amazon. In my experience, when Amazon sells "used like new" it usually means someone returned it for whatever reason, and I usually save about 10% for something that at least so far, has been "just like new." That was true in the case. The only evidence that it wasn't new was the secondary packaging.Knowing that the old anode rods are frequently hard to remove, I sprayed a little PB Blaster on the old anode threads, about one week before I attempted removal. (I didn't use too much as I don't know the ramifications of PB Blaster in the drinking water.) Once this unit arrived, I attached my 1-1/16" socket onto my breaker bar with a little cheater bar, and whacked it with my hand a couple of times. The corroded pipe threads broke free.Once I knew that corroded threads were free, but before unthreading it, I hooked up the water heater drain hose, turned the drain on to drain the tank, turned off the cold water supply to the tank, turned off the gas to the tank (don't want to heat a dry tank). (I didn't want to drain the tank, etc., and then find for some reason I couldn't get the old unit out.)I removed the cheater bar and the old unit unthreaded and out came what was left of the old anode. Using a garden hose, I flushed the now drained tank to clean out any residual PB Blaster and debris, but saw little evidence of debris.Couple of turns of teflon tape around the TOP of the new threads, in it went. Easy peezy. Turned off drain. Turned on cold water supply. Turned on hot water faucet inside the house to remove some of the trapped air. Once I knew the tank was almost full, relit and fired up the gas. Wrote the date on the side of the tank with felt pen so I would know when I replaced the anode. Total time less than 1 hour.I gave it 4 stars because it's just a piece of metal for gosh sakes! How can I "love it" (5 stars)?

Worked great, no fuss, no muss. You should measure the height of your tank and the height of clearance above to get the right size. I kind of didn't do that and so the rod that came out was about 8 inches longer than the rod I replaced it with. Whatever, a new rod went in and the old rod was shot so we're all good. The ad says replace every year. I had read elsewhere every three years. I replaced (in northern VA on city water) at three years, and I was surprised to see that the rod was pretty much gone. Maybe two years might be right.There is a big debate about using a long breaker bar vs. a torque wrench. I tried the long breaker bar and it just wasn't happening. Those things are put on TIGHT! With my electric impact gun from Kobalt the old rod popped right out. Some folks seem to think that using the impact gun makes it more likely for the old rod to snap off, others seem to think that using the breaker bar makes it more likely. For me it came down to the fact that I simply could not budge it with the breaker bar, and with the impact gun it was a breeze.This is really a very simple project and a $30 anode rod can get you years and years more out of your water heater. That's a great deal. The steps I used:1. Turn off electricity. Flip the breaker to the water heater at the electrical panel. It's marked. Use a non-contact voltage tester on the water heater to make sure it's off.2. Dig out foam insulation around old anode rod and suck out the loose bits with a vacuum cleaner. No sense in having them fall down into the tank.3. Drain off a few gallons with the water supply open to flush the bottom of the tank, then turn off the water supply and let a few more gallons drain out. I also opened a couple taps around the house to make sure all pressure was relieved.4. Using a 1 1/16 impact socket and a corded impact gun get out the old socket (so easy with the impact gun!).5. Put old rod in the recycling and be disgusted as how gross and corroded it was. My Lord, was that in my drinking water?!?6. Wrap teflon tape around top threads of new rod, going around four times.7. Put new rod in and snug it down pretty right using a regular old socket wrench. I put it in about about 50 foot pounds of torque. Couldn't find any suggestion for how tight to put it in online. It hasn't blown out yet and no leaks.8. Open water supply and go around open all hot water taps around house for about 30 seconds each. I was disgusted by the gray burst of water that comes out at the start. I'm told that's perfectly normal. Letting the hot water taps run for a bit purges air from the system and protects you from blowing out an element if there's air in the water heater.9. Tell wife I'm a home repair stud, go the basement to play video games.10. Four hours later wife says there is no how water for her shower, she's irate, I tell her she's crazy, she says I'm an idiot, I remember that I never turned the electricity to the water heater back on. Go do that.