water heater anode question

glennster

Well-known Member
was looking on line for a replacement anode for a bradford white gas water heater. mine is new but its getting the rotten egg smell with the magnesium anode. they have two aluminum types available, one is just called a standard aluminum and the other is an A420 aluminum. whats the difference?? poked around the website but it doesnt really say the difference.
 
I put a new water heaterin here at my office. it started that rotten egg smell. changed the anode out to the AL one and the smell went away.
 
just google ' rotten egg smell from water heater." something about well water and the Mag ones induce or help bacteria grow and thee Al ones done. I just went to ace hardware , told the guys what was happeneing and he said here, this will fix it. problem solved.
 
I thought for sure we would see several comments to just leave it out ? or cut it off and put the plug back in the hole. I thought that is what many were doing with them.
 
(quoted from post at 12:58:05 01/07/16) I thought for sure we would see several comments to just leave it out ? or cut it off and put the plug back in the hole. I thought that is what many were doing with them.

Yep that's what I do. Often times I take them out when I install a new water heater.
 
Bacteria can grow in water heater. Try bleaching it first. It may be easier to bleach well if you have one. I would remove the cold water pipe to water heater, drain out a little, use a funnel and put a cup of bleach in tank. Run water out of all hot faucets until you smell bleach. Let it sit over night. If smell goes away, problem solved. If not get rid of anode, but that wills shorten the life of tank.

I've also heard that water softners may cause mg smell.
 
(quoted from post at 12:58:05 01/07/16) I thought for sure we would see several comments to just leave it out ? or cut it off and put the plug back in the hole. I thought that is what many were doing with them.

Yep that's what I do. Often times I take them out when I install a new water heater.
 
(quoted from post at 14:53:39 01/07/16)
(quoted from post at 12:58:05 01/07/16) I thought for sure we would see several comments to just leave it out ? or cut it off and put the plug back in the hole. I thought that is what many were doing with them.

Yep that's what I do. Often times I take them out when I install a new water heater.
Sounds like you sell water heaters.
 
I had a similar problem with my water heaters, one nat. gas, one electric. Did the research and removed the magnesium anode rod and replaced with recommended aluminum rod. No change. Took out aluminum rod and still no change. Ended up chlorinating the well and entire house system. Odor was gone. Wells can develop iron bacteria which can cause the odor. If you have any dead end water lines that have been capped off, bacteria can grow there too and develop the rotten egg smell. I recently had the problem again and chlorinated the well again, odor gone. The first chlorinating lasted about 7 years. I flushed hot water tank expecting sediment and or rust. I was surprised there was no sediment or rust that flushed out. Tanks are about 8 year old and never flushed before and have no sign of corrosion. Both heaters have the anode rods removed. We use a water softner.
 
That's ironic - this summer our new water heater was smelling like rotten eggs and we had to switch from aluminum diode TO a magnesium type. (Could've traded.)
 
(quoted from post at 07:00:49 01/08/16) I had a "State" brand water heater from 1979 to 2011 and had removed the anode shortly after it was installed. The only thing I did after that was a new thermostat and never changed upper or lower elements. It finally gave up when tank started leaking. We had a water softener the whole time.
 

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