When your water gets a smell of sulfur, the anode rod in your hot water heater is often involved in this. This rod will attract corrosive elements that extend your heater’s life. You need to change these rods regularly and have the option to get the same rod type or a different one, like a powered anode rod.
What is a Powered anode rod?
The powered anode rod is non-sacrificial rods that use an electrical pulse to deal with any corrosive elements in your water (this means they don’t break down like a regular anode rod). These pulses disperse the hot electrons, preventing them from accumulating along the tank lining.
Ultimately, the use of powered anode rods provides quite a few advantages. You do not deteriorate, protect your hot-water heater from the corrosive elements of the water (by killing anaerobic bacteria that lead to that smell of rotten egg).
How Power Anodes Work
A powered anode rod uses electricity to be fed to the anode to impose a current flow rather than natural electrolysis. The anode protects the other metal (state heater tank) for many years when the powered anode is made from the right material and remains powered. It lasts even longer than a standard rod of the anode. The strong anode responds not at all with water; it avoids stinking water. The standard magnesium anode rod reacts with the water in some water conditions, too. The taste and smell of the water will produce an unpleasant rotten egg. This will be stopped by a powered rod.
Powered Water Heater Anodes
When used in combination with soft water, sacrificial anodes can degrade much quicker than average and sometimes have to be substituted, if the water is unusually warm, perhaps every 6 months. An anode, which is attached to an electric outlet and which avoids the rusting in water heaters with the issuance of minimal continuous electrical current, is the best solution for preventing this complication.
The use of anodes in softening water
Water softeners improve the reaction between the water and the standard anode rod. It can lead to faster consumption of the rod. The use of a powered anode rod with your softener will improve the life of the rod. The powered anode rod in water softener systems lasts much longer than regular anode rods.
Powered anodes are also recommended when odor-causing bacteria infect a water heater tank and send noxious fumes running up water pipes. However, special zinc and aluminum sacrificial anodes also counteract this particular problem.
