100305721 Powered Anode Rod System for A.O. Smith, Reliance, State, American, Whirlpool, and Craftmaster Branded Hot Water Heaters Up to 50 gallons

We have well water, and the original anode caused a pretty serious sulfur smell in the water. Instead of messing around with an anode of a different composition, we decided to install one of these.If you have an older water heater, installation should be a piece of cake -- for us, we have a new electric water heater up to the new energy standards, so we had to dig out about 5 inches of spray foam insulation before we could even see the anode on the top of the actual water tank. Once we found it, we had to actually purchase an extra long socket extender in order to get the socket onto the anode top. Once we did though, it popped right out, and this one popped right back in. Be sure to check for leaks!The little box is not obtrusive, and has a warning on it for when it isn't protecting the tank. The wires seemed like they would be too short, but in the end they were just fine.When we had the tank open, before installing the new powered anode, we dumped in a bottle of peroxide to kill the funk that was in the tank at that point.This completely removed the smell from our hot water and it has been a couple months now and the smell has not returned.I do not know if it is actually protecting the tank as well as the sacrificial anode, but given that this listed on the AO Smith website, I have to have faith that it is actually doing what it is supposed to do.

I purchased this Product Prservers powered anode rod and had it installed concurrently with my new State brand water heater. I never sufferred "stinky" hot water as many reviewers, but like all water heater owners, need an anode rod to prvent the water from attacking the steel tank through anodic reaction. I prepared for my new water heater installation by installng a GFCI protected electrical outlet next to the water heater location. I informed the plumber that did the tank install work that we would be replacing the factory aluminum sacrificial rod with the powered rod. Everything went smoothly according to my plan thanks to all of my preparation work.Since I never had smelly water as a guage for effectiveness of this product, I am going to have to wait a year and flush/drain the tank and look for signs of rust I guess.Do it yoruself folks like me should note that you need a deep-well 1 and 1/16 inch socket for installing the powered rod as described in the manual. While I already owned that size socket in one of my sets, it was not deep-well. You need deep-well to protect the flag electrical connection atop the powered rod during installation. The install manual is well written. Good thing I read it in advance so that I had time to acquire the deep-well socket needed. The plumber was not prepared with one on his truck, so mine was used.Of interest to me, the plumber (from a major plumbing company in the Atlanta area) that did my tank installation was unfamiliar with powered anode rods. So I got to educate him a bit on them.So now I wait to see if the powered rod works and prevents rusting like a sacrificial rod would do.

Just got it to make sure I don't have any sediment produced by the sacrificial anode rod (supposedly aluminum rods produce amount of sediment 1000 times of its original volume) - those green crystals that you have to flush periodically. And, so that I don't EVER have to inspect it. There are cheaper powered anodes out there, but this one has a beeper alarm feature (and not just a red led nobody's going to notice). Plus, supposedly same brand as my AO Smith water heater and won't ruin the warranty. Sacrificial anode rods only make sense for remote locations where there is no power or if power goes out for months. Been waiting for this product for years and thank you guys, it's here.

We had a sulfur smell from our hot water tank due to the nature of the water. I'd read that the typical sacrificial anode in a water heater often interacted with the water to create this smell and that this powered anode would remove this smell. I want to confirm that it has eliminated the sulfur smell in our hot water!!!Instructions and everything about the installation was straight forward in that it was easy to understand what to do. But please note the following:1) Removing the old Anode can be quite difficult. I needed a 2-foot pipe on the end of my socket wrench in order to get enough torque to remove the old anode. Leave the water heater mostly full (but electric and water turned off) in order to have enough weight in the tank to take that much torque.2) Our water heater had the anode rod seated about two inches below the top of the tank, so getting the new anode seated and started with the threads was a bit tricky and requires patience. Your fingers are not able to get down there to start it. I set it in place, then place the socket wrench socket in place and had the extended piece attached and then I could use my hands to get it started before securing firmly in place.

We have a new water heater and a water conditioner, but the water itself had a musty type smell to it. We have well water, thus the conditioner. I called out the conditioner people to test the water and it was testing good with the water leaving the system. Even though the water heater was new, we shocked the tank water with bleach and let it set in the lines for 24 hours before flushing. It helped for a couple of weeks, and then the smell slowly returned. Next we changed out the anode to see if that would help. It did for a couple of weeks. I called the water heater company and they suggested getting an electrical anode system which we did. It has been almost 3 moths now and the water has improved greatly. I think this may be what we needed all along.

I had a bad sulfur smell in my hot water. Taking showers made the bathroom stink. After removing the stock anode with the help of a 2.5 foot breaker bar, treating the water heater with peroxide, and installing this unit, smell is completely gone. Also, I like the green diode telling me it is working. I zip tied the control box on the vertical cold water line so that it can be easily seen. System has been in place for two weeks now.