Winterizing Hot Water Tank

[vivusCraig]

My pinnacle 36 FBTS has an Atwood water heater. Last year, I winterized it simply by emptying it and then followed through by winterizing using the Uni-dock Utility center.

This year, while reading the manual, I see that it says to replace the anode rod in the water heater yearly or risk premature tank failure. Well, our rig is now 18 months old and I have never replaced it.

Has anyone done this? I see Atwood Anode rods on Amazon but they are different sizes. Which one to get? Also, is this a difficult job?

Would appreciate hearing about anyone's experience.

[vivusCraig]

Originally Posted by vivusCraig

My pinnacle 36 FBTS has an Atwood water heater. Last year, I winterized it simply by emptying it and then followed through by winterizing using the Uni-dock Utility center.

This year, while reading the manual, I see that it says to replace the anode rod in the water heater yearly or risk premature tank failure. Well, our rig is now 18 months old and I have never replaced it.

Has anyone done this? I see Atwood Anode rods on Amazon but they are different sizes. Which one to get? Also, is this a difficult job?

Would appreciate hearing about anyone's experience.

Think I found my own answer. Did some research. I think the tanks in the atwood are aluminum and not steel. Therefore, there is no anode rod required.

It would be nice if this was reflected in the owner's manual.

[NCMFFD]

Originally Posted by vivusCraig

Think I found my own answer. Did some research. I think the tanks in the atwood are aluminum and not steel. Therefore, there is no anode rod required.

It would be nice if this was reflected in the owner's manual.

Yes it would be nice if the owner’s manual had that info but like yourself I found the same info through a Google search. Just a plastic drain plug.

[vivusCraig]

Yea, keeps us on our toes I guess.

When you flush your tank, do you flush it with vinegar? I saw on-line where someone used vinegar to help clean things up?

[NCMFFD]

I saw a YouTube video where they flushed with vinegar but I just used plain water. Our trailer is less than a year of and the water heater’s still pretty clean.

[vivusCraig]

Yea, that makes sense. Ours is pretty new too.