clear the block - anode will be dynamited!!!

I can't break the 1 1/16" anode rod bolt loose on my 4-5 year old water heater. Here's what I've tried:

Socket wrench - futile Socket wrench & hammer - equally futile Breaker bar - started moving the tank and bending the plumbing Impact driver - the kind you hammer on - tinker toy pnuematic impact driver - the kind the mechanics use to get tires off, worthless WD-40 - sprayed it on the bolt welding torch - map gas to be exact, got it red hot and still wouldn't budge

Better clear the block, unless you guys can post something soon, I'm down to my last option which is dynamite.

Pokey

Reply to
slow_mac_modem
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Sounds like the best way to me. Turn of the supply water first though. Post pictures.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Don't forget to turn off the gas before lighting the fuse.

Drilling it out probably won't be much fun either.

Put the wrench away, grab a bottle opener, use it to open a beer (or wine bottle if you please), sit down and wait another 3-5 years till the tank leaks then scrap the whole bugger and be done with it.

How many years is the warranty on that tank. If it's a 7 year tank, your too late anyway. ( up to 70% corroded, not much left to remove).

Reply to
PipeDown

First get a huge pipe wrench and put it on the water heater and make sure it's up against the wall. Then put a huge crescent wrench on the anode. Use a pickup truck and tie a cable to the crescent wrench and head to the store for some beer. By the time you hit the driveway your anode rod will be loose, you'll have a large hole in the wall and for sure you'll need the beer......Now call a contractor to fix the drywall (there should be a nice big hole), finish the beer and you'll have plenty of time to think about a new water heater! And please, don't remove the new anode and wrap it with pipe tape so it will be easy to remove or you will be buying a new water heater in short order! Signed, Tired, Sarcastic and still laughing....Ross (Does this sound like a redneck joke?)

Reply to
Ross Mac

You're finished

Reply to
Terry

I don't know about this case, but if it's hard to loosen something, try tightening it and then loosening it.

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Reply to
mm

Any chance it's a left-hand thread? Surprised a pneumatic impact wrench wouldn't do it. I remember a jammed lug nut on my car. The mechanic at the station got the mother of all impact wrenches and said either the nut comes off or the bolt snaps. Snapped the bolt. Turns out early Chrysler minivans had poorly designed lug nuts/bolts where the threads easily got messed up. The dealer replaced all the bolts and the new ones were much better. Why do I know? Thanks to having our roof replaced got several flats over the next year due to roofing nails. The old shingles were removed so lots of stuff fell into the yard etc. They were pretty good about using a magnetic rake, but still I would find roofing nails on the driveway or yard occasionally. Guess I've digressed enough.

Happy 2006

Reply to
Jeff

this is why changing anode rods isnt worth the effort, its very likely even if you replace the rod the tank will leak from being disturbed....

Reply to
hallerb

stop. put the new anode in the hot:

"We generally recommend putting two anodes in a tank, if possible: one hex-head anode like the one from our tank, and a combo or outlet rod that combines an anode, hot-water outlet and plastic-lined steel nipple and screws into the hot port." read all at:

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Reply to
buffalobill

Next time I buy one, which sounds like it will be soon, I'm going to take it to a tractor-trailer pull and pay somebody $50 to hook it up between two trucks and have them break it loose. I guess I should start planning that now.

Makes me mad that the factory is so cheap. To save a quarter, they don't bother putting any tape on the threads.

Pokey

Reply to
slow_mac_modem

Sometimes heat helps, loosen the lug. Hwoever, sounds like you were better off with studs replaced. I've had impact wrenches used on my lugs, and couldn't get em off later. Seems to be a "guy thing". Who can crank em on tighter.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Were they left-handed or just had bad threads?

If left-handed, did they have L's stamped or molded into ends of the studs? They're supposed to, afaik. (My 50 Olds or 52 Hudson had the studs marked like that.)

Finally, an advantage to not having a driveway. :(

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Reply to
mm

Mine were on normally tight, I think, but then I had shoulder surgery, and my arm in a sling for 6 weeks. It was NYC and I didn't need to drive anywhere, and it snowed a lot,, or the snowplow pushed the snow onto my left wheels, and one wheel had no hubcap**

** ( I had left the car in Queens. Missing hubcap on left rear. I could have put it back on before I parked the car, but didn't realize it would be important.)

Started using the car 6 or 8 weeks later and everything was fine, until I had a flat in the summer, dropping off my brother at Newark Airport., Sunday 7 PM.

Couldn't get the lug nuts off so I stood on the wrench (the standard issue GM wrench, one heavy rod bent at oblique angle. This might have been the time I bent the wrench, but I got all the lugnuts off anyhow.)

Broke 4 of the 5 studs. Choice between calling a gas station (didn't know of one, would have had to walk back to the terminal and try to find someone who knew of one nearby) and probably having it towed in, then taking public transportation to NYC and then to Brooklyn, then coming back via public transportation the next day.

OR

Driving home on one lug nut.

Of course I chose the latter. Car worked fine when going straight or turning left. Went bang, bang, bang when turning right, even a little bit. Drove about 15 miles to the Holland Tunnel, through the tunnel, and another half mile towards Brooklyn.

Almost at Broadway, as I was slowing for the stop sign, I heard a thump. Checked and the last lug nut had broken. Hub resting on ground (or ?tire). No Parking on practically any street south of Canal. Scoped out the area. Found a little parking lot about 100 feet north on Broadway. (Which goes one-way south, but there was no traffic when the light at Canal was red, and only a little when it was green..)

Jacked up the car, put on the tire, lowered the jack, headed out. Got less than an inch before the tire fell off the hub.

Did it again, jacked up the car, put on the tire, lowered the jack, headed out. Got about 3 feet.

Did it again, jacked up the car, put on the tire, lowered the jack, headed out. Got 15 feet, turned left, got 100 feet, turned left again (going over the curb instead of through the entrance), past the sidewalk and into the parking lot. Then the wheel fell off.

I couldn't believe it myself. 120 feet with nothing holding on the wheel. Lesson: Three tries, sometimes more. Don't give up.

Took the subway home, read the shop manual, first thing in the morning went to Atlantic Wheel and Rim. Good thing I like to talk. Mentioned how the shop manual said to press the broken studs out with a hydraulic press and to press the new ones in the same way. The counterman said, "No one does it that way. Use a hammer and a drift to knock them out, and then put each new one in and tighten the lug nut on it to draw the stud in, until it's in all the way. Back home to get a couple tools, Easy subway ride to the car. Got there by

9:30, car finished by 10 or a little later.

Lot attendant pointed out i was parked across three spaces (because I entered from the side), said no one would take my space now that rush hour was over, wanted to charge for 3 days of parking, but easily settled for a day and a half. I think as he thought about it, he decided he would be able to rent at least one space

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Reply to
mm

Good point, mm. Some Chrysler products, up until the '80s, I think, had left handed threads on the left side of the car, and right-handed on the right. They usually did have an "L" on the end of the stud.

Reply to
Smokey

I didn't even try to get mine out. Just ordered one of those that insert into the hot water outlet and installed it to extend the life of my water heater.

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SJF

Reply to
SJF

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