water heater anode?

[Duetto]

hi all,

just replaced a 6g attwood water heater on our 2003 mainship. the attwood was original. the new heater is a whale. we picked it because the piping was an exact match as was the physical dimensions. the tank is aluminium as was the attwood. whale mentions a magnesium anode which is screwed into the drain as an option. they pointedly talk about using it in situations where the city water has a high salinity.

my question is, beyond the salinity would the anode protect the tank from any other corrosion situations? in advance.

thanks

 

[SteveK]

IMO no

 

[Comodave]

Maybe not but it is an easy thing to do.

 

[Jeff F]

my question is, beyond the salinity would the anode protect the tank from any other corrosion situations?

The anode protects against a specific type of corrosion that won't happen if your water is pure. So if you guarantee the water quality, no.

I think most marine water heaters and some home systems have anodes recognizing that occasionally there are enough impurities in the water to do long term damage if not protected against. Your Attwood may have one.

I'd install it.

 

[Comodave]

If you are cruising long distances you may fill the water with unknown quantity of water so having the anode may be a good thing.

 

[Noforad]

I have installed hundreds of residential water heaters. The two root causes of most failures is the neglect of anode replacement if possible. Next is Poor water quality and not flushing, causing severe scaling, in turn causing sediment, and then poor heat transfer. Change the anode and use soft water if possible.

 

[H2O_Doc]

A) all waters are corrosive, to some extent. Water is "the universal solvent"
B) when you heat water, the oxygen becomes less soluble, and begins to corrode any metal in the area

Given the above, whey NOT use an anode?