I bought a Harbor Freight 1/2 inch impact wrench 20 years ago and wished I'd bought it a decade earlier. There are no end of uses on cars and motorcycles, though I will admit these days I often use a 3/8 cordless. With corded drivers, if you need an extension cord, I would suggest a 10 gauge as they draw a lot of current and are seriously impaired by thin extensions.

i used a litte Liquid Wrench.. it helped a lot 😊

Brilliant. It worked!! Thank you!!

Any drawbacks to using the Torque Wrench?

Just use a large pair of channel locks. Put something over the tank to protect the paint. I've gotten a lot of them of that way. The cap is ruined anyway if it fails, but if you don't want to damage it, put painters tape around the cap first.

I just replaced my perfectly fuctioning 24 year old Rheem 40 Gal gas water heater (better to be proactive rather than reactive at this point) Anyway, I was curious if I could get that old anode rod out with tools I had on hand and see what was left. My old craftsman air impact wrench may have worked if I had a commercial quality air compressor, the home duty compressor just didn't have enough oomph. Next came the breaker bar and various lengths of cheaters. To keep the empty water heater from turning I put a 2nd length of 2" pipe between inlet outlet connections to act as a counter force braced against my body. No amount of force from my 77 year old body could break loose that stuck anode rod, I really wasn't surprised....Oh well 🤷‍♂on to the next project. L0L.

Should you relieve the tank pressure via the valve prior to trying to remove the anode?

Commentary was a little bit excessive

I'm removing my anode rod, and the instructions say to use a 1 - 1/16 inch socket. The socket has some play and does not seem to be the right size. This anode rod came with the Rheem water heater. I tried a 26mm, but that is too small, and a 27mm is a bit larger. Is there a specific size that will fit on the anode rod nut?

vice grips? saw? I just grabbed it and bent and then lifted it the rest of way out LOL. thought it was easy

What I noticed on mine after having replaced the old rusty ine, now that it's exposed to air it's prone to sweating and the nut portion will likely rust due to condensation long term. I need to have a good solution to a closed cell insulation

Or you could have just bent it...........

Thanks for the information. I was able to remove the locking mechanism as suggested. It came out easy enough. Was able to push with a screw driver the metal tab that remained at the bottom of the hole/shaft. Turned the gas cap counter-clock-wise while pressing the metal tab with the end of the screw driver until it grabbed and the cap came off.

Harbor freight corded impact did the trick for me! Took about 4 pulses on my Rheem tank.

Could I use 3/8" Impact Wrench Ryobi P263 to break it? Or it should be 1/2" Wrench (I don't have one)

I had a two foot breaker bar on mine . the water heater moves. ???? now I have to buy the impact tool ..

How dumb are the water heater manufacturers that they install solid anode rods too long to remove, and without a gasket that permits easy removal? Idiots!

I used my impact gun and only a nut came out. So either my anode rod was completely eaten away or the impact snapped it off. Either way, next time (2.5 years from now) I will use a cheater pipe and raw mussel. ( I now have a new water heater)

May I ask if the water heater moves when you use the impact wrench to loosen it? Thank you so much.

I also put a white mark on the side of my black socket and when I saw it move just about 1/4" switched back to the breaker bar so that did not introduce too much vibration to the tank. Some of you may even have a socket adapter for a regular drill so once you break the seal then just switch to your drill and you don't have to keep spinning your socket around and around with a manual ratchet you can just spit it out

Folks make sure you drain about 3 to 5 minutes worth of water then when you remove the rod water won't come out of the hole and run down the side of your water heater

Spray it with Blaster?

thanks for the video. I bought the same drill (or the Harbor Freight version) and still cant get the dang thing off. Any other ideas? Heater is 20 yrs old and anode has clearly never been replaced.

Great video bro ❤️👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

You are literally me. I'm ordered a bigass pneumatic impact wrench on amazon. Like 1800 torque. We'll see.

Why didn't he just bend the rod as he was pulling it out? It appeared to be flexing back and forth while he was trying to clamp it.

Is too much shake cause debris to fall from the rod. Maybe also damaging the glass linings of the tank?

Been doing this. It’s the only way to go.

I saw ur video 4 years ago and u gave me hope just by watching ur video . I bought the same drill u have and it works. Thank u

Fluid Film worked wonders on mine. Broke free after I let it sit for a few.

Nice video. Exactly what I will need to do regarding clearance. Got a corded torque wrench from Harbor Freight so hopefully that can break it free.

There is no need to saw the old anode off, just bend it over once you cant raise it any higher because of the ceiling height. The rod a soft metal. No big deal bending it.

That old rod was still good, should have left it in the tank for another year.

Thanks for posting this. I have the same problem, and I'm hoping this will work for me.

Another source says 300 lb of removal foot torque

I tried an impact wrench on ours, but never got it to budge. But now that I see your video, I think the problem was that I wasn't persistent enough with the wrench - I *thought* I saw it move a little. I just needed to be more patient and let it work the magic. In our case, we have tons of ceiling space - that would eliminate the one step where you had to saw off the old one to get it out.

Any drawbacks to using a impact drill?

How often do they suggest we replace the Anode Rod. That is is great idea. Most people like myself never knew.

Great Job and video. Its impact wrench is $45 at Walmart 4 years later which isn't bad with all this inflation we've had.

I thought outside the box and got a chain saw and cut a hole in the floor.....came staight out with no problem. Now im struggling with this huge hole that my dog keeps falling through......but my hot water smells good. Win Win.

This is such a perfect video. Using an impact wrench w/o having to strap down the tank. Cutting the old one out. And replacing with a flexible. This is exactly all of what I want to attempt with my 10 y/o water heater. I don't want to have to replace this water heater in 2 years. I recently learned about anode rods, so I hope I am not to late. The water heater seems fine right now as is.. No leaks.. looks new on the outside pretty much.

Good video, using an impact wrench is the way to go, as in the video, make sure you use an impact rated socket (usually black). A regular socket will probably crack or break under impact.

so how does your impact wrench work as an anode since you are replacing the anode with a wrench???

With my 20yr old glass-lined tank I don't think I'll be trying an impact wrench on it. It could shatter the lining or worse, tear the top of the tank open if it is rusty inside. I've used impact wrenches and seen what they can do. Not really for use on ceramic parts.

For any future anode rod removers: I went to walmart and bought their $45 el cheapo impact wrench. It took 20 seconds and it removed the anode rod, easy peezy.

nice job, i like the vice grip idea, will use it

Just bend the old rod

mine got stripped, its round now so no go. Its been in there for around 15 years.

Why not just tip the water heater a little?

ALSO use extreme caution when cutting as some are made of magnesium which is EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE and requires special firefighting chemicals to extinguish it