Quote:
Originally Posted by Padgett
and this: "White in the hot water could be powdered bits of the water heater lining " -how does replacing the anode fix ?
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I think the water heater lining is there simply to prevent the tank from rusting. We all know what happens when water heaters rust out......
The lining I have seen is white on one side, and some sort of blue/purple on the other side. When you pull out the anode, this crud is laying on the bottom of the tank, and can be readily flushed out. Flushing it of course does nothing to fix the lining, but just prevents it from getting pumped through the trailer (and perhaps negligibly increases the efficiency of the water heater, but I doubt it).
If the white is coming from the anode, not sure there's much you can do about that. I've experienced the white/clouded water phenomena Bill described where air is dissolved in the water, but it's only temporary (less than a minute of running water), and then doesn't return until the water heater is drained and refilled (and even then it often doesn't return in my experience).
Anode rods come in 2 flavors: aluminum and magnesium. One is supposed to be for harder water, can't remember which one. I think aluminum is the stock version, but I switched to magnesium because I want to limit my aluminum intake. If the white stuff is a regular problem for you, you might consider switching over to whatever material you aren't currently using to see if that makes a difference.
Dave