The Sacrificial Anode Rod
Part of a truck campers’ preventative maintenance program should be to check regularly and replace, as need, the sacrificial rod in the Suburban hot water tank.
Above -A 1-year-old sacrificial anode rod next to a new $20 rod.
Below – A replacement 10-gallon Suburban tank for $393.49
majority of Hot water comes in two flavors
For truck campers, there are two primary manufactures of hot water heaters—Atwood with aluminum alloy tanks and Suburban with their steel tanks.
A sacrificial rod of either magnesium or aluminum or both is suspended in the Suburban water tanks.
The purpose of these rods is to slowly corrode away, protecting the tank from rusting and being corroded. Anode rods need to be inspected regularly and replaced as needed.
At the very least, when you winterize your RV would be a good time to inspect and replace the anode rod.
Review http://www.suburbanwaterheater.net/ for the sacrificial anode rod for your Suburban model.
Two possible sacrificial anode rods for Suburban are available from Amazon:
- Suburban 232768 Aluminum Anode Rod for $13.98
- Suburban 232767 Water Heater Anode Rod at Amazon at $18.20
You can find additional safety information and a video on replacing the sacrificial rod, flushing of the heater as well as additional maintenance tips at:
http://www.loveyourrv.com/yearly-rv-hot-water-heater-maintenance/