On Sun, 26 Jun 2011 08:14:24 -0400, James Post >
wrote:

>On Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:11:10 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski"
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"James Post" > wrote
>>>
>>> The water in my hot water heater tastes nasty. Much worse than the
>>> cold water.
>>
>>Very common. This come sup on the home repair newsgroups often. Sometimes
>>you get a sulfur type odor from a reaction with the anode. If you replace
>>it with a different material anode, it goes away. It also helps to flush
>>the bottom of the tank one a month or so.
>
>I never heard that about the heating element. How would I know what
>material it's made of? Does it commonly give that information on the
>package it comes in? I've certainly never noticed. To flush the bottom
>of my water heater out, I'd have to hook a hose to the bottom, stretch
>it out my back door and drain the tank. It's a pain in the ass when I
>have to do it to change the element and I'm sure not doing it once a
>month. I've made the decision to go to a On Demand type electric water
>heater when this tank gives out. That will eliminate the problem of
>any taste difference by removing the tank from the equation.

The anode is not the heating element. The anode is a "sacrificial"
metal rod (usually magnesium) that's inserted into the tank so it will
corrode from electrolytic action instead of the element and other
parts.

http://www.plumbingstore.com/sacrificial_rods.html