Seaward hotwater heater anode.

[Peterpan111]

I have an 11gal Seaward. Installed March last year. I was at the factory and Tom, manager sold me a large magnesium anode to put in place of the drain. I did this, and last week ( a year later) checked the anode. It was a large anode, about 6" long by 1" diameter) IT WAS ALMOST GONE ! I replaced it and took a photo of the old one. Faxed the photo to Seaward, attn Tom (manager). He got back to me and said that he was VERY concerned. In his 25 plus years with Seaward he had never seen anything like this. He said something about electrolytes in the fresh water, maybe the grounding on my charger, other boats close by, etc. He said that he is personally looking into it, and will get back to me. It's only been a weekend so I'm sure he will. Anyone had anything like this happen ? Or any input to the problem ? Thanks

 

[Vic Willman]

An anode in a water heater is a sacrificial rod to protect the tank from stray electrical currents, acids and chemicals in the water, etc. It gets eaten away instead of the metal tank being eaten away.

1. Be sure the water heater is grounded electrically.
2. Check that your shore power line is properly grounded at the shore connection.
3. Have your onboard bonding system checked by a qualified marine electrician who is familiar with this type of situation.
4. The electrician can also check to see if any current is leaking into the water, or if any is entering the boat from leakage into the water from another nearby boat.