
Anode Rods for Hot Water Heaters Explained
You wake up, step into the utility room, and find a shallow puddle around the base of your hot water tank. The water has a rusty tint. Your first thought is probably that the tank has just reached the end of its life, but the failure may have started much earlier with a small component most homeowners never see. That component is the sacrificial anode rod. It sits inside the tank and gradually corrodes so the steel tank doesn't have








