# Hot Water Tank Question



## curlingcoach (Aug 9, 2013)

Hello everyone. I am new to the website (first post) and a recent new Outback owner. Looked back in history for a couple years to see if this problem has cropped up before with no luck. We purchased a 2009 310FRL 5th wheel a few months ago. Went to winterize this past weekend and noticed the previous owner had installed a square head plug in place of the hex head anode rod. A bugger of a time getting that puppy off but finally off it came. Noticed that they had put teflon tape on the plug threads and when it came time to insert a spare anode rod I don't believe it turned on by more than a couple of threads. The coupling or whatever the part is called that is on the heater (see arrow on attached pic) seems to be quite rusted and I wonder if a different thread was used when they installed that sq hd plug. It was torqued in there really good.
Question is has anyone ever had to replace that 'coupling'? Would this be a job for a dealer or can this be done without too much grunt work and screwing up the water heater. Thoughts please.

Great site with lots of problem solving. Have done a lot of printing for a 'How To' binder compilation.
Thank you.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

The threaded outlet that is welded to the tank would not be a replaceable item from the dealer. It would be a complete heater replacement.

That said if you feel the anode did not go in far enough (engaging enough threads) it could be due to debris in the threads. For about $10 you can buy an NPT tap to clean out the rust and sediment. Just remember the NPT threads are tapered and you do not want to cut new or deeper threads you just want to clean the ones you have.


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

I suspect what happened is that the square plug didn't have threads long enough to go all the way into the tank, so the threads exposed rusted. Camper andy is on track. And IIRC the replacement anode rods have threads that go will just go into the tank. Don't want anode rod threads rusting being hard to come out either.

BTW I do use teflon tape on mine.


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## Todd&Regan (Jul 1, 2010)

I had calcium build up on the threads on my hot water heater. I used lime-away and a copper brush to clean the calcium from the threads. Took some scrubbing, but I got it clean and my anode again screwed in all the way.


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## Jewellfamily (Sep 25, 2010)

I use Teflon tape on my anode rod threads as well. This is my 3rd year with my outback and have not had to replace the anode rod yet. It gets some small white "barnacles" on it that I clean off with a wire brush but it looks basically in good condition after that. This is the 1st camper I have had with an anode rod. My last camper actually had a white plastic pipe plug. I have a small wire brush a little larger than a tooth brush that I use to clean out my water heater threads and it works pretty well.

Andy is right about tapping the threads if needed. Don't cut new threads with the pipe tap, just clean the existing ones. You don't bottom your plug out tightening it with pipe threads.

Worst case if you decide you cant clean up the threads, you might try the disposable plastic pipe plugs that some rv's use. Use some Teflon tape on them. They are cheap and will deform a little bit to accomodate ugly threads.


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## curlingcoach (Aug 9, 2013)

Thank you everyone for the great advice. Will take a better look in the spring and either do some scrubbing or some tapping.


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