Official Sears water heater parts

How to replace the anode rod in your Sears water heater

• Shut off the house circuit breaker or circuit breakers for your water heater to completely disconnect electrical power. If you have a gas water heater shut off the gas supply.
• Turn off the cold water supply to the water heater. Attach a garden hose to the drain valve located at the bottom of the unit and run the garden hose outside. Open a hot water faucet in the house or flip the relief valve open on the water heater. Open the drain valve and allow the tank to drain about 5 gallons of water and then close the drain valve and remove the garden hose.
• Pry the plastic cap off from the top of the water heater covering the anode rod. Remove the foam insulation covering the anode rod. Unthread the anode rod and pull it up and out from the tank.
• Wrap pipe thread-sealing tape around the threads of the new anode rod. Thread the new anode rod into the tank and tighten firmly. Reinsert the plastic cap.
• Turn the cold water supply on to the water heater and allow the tank to fill with water. When water begins to flow from the open hot water faucet, turn the hot water faucet off.
• Restore the electrical power supply (and gas supply for a gas water heater) to the water heater.

Common replacement parts for Sears water heaters

• Anode rod. The anode rod extends into the tank from the top panel of the water heater. Made of aluminum or zinc, the anode rod helps prevent tank corrosion by aggressively attracting oxidizing compounds that would normally corrode the tank. The tank lasts longer because the anode rod corrodes instead of the tank.
• Dip tube. The dip tube is a high-temperature plastic tube that is inserted into the tank through the cold-water inlet port. The dip tube extends far down into the tank to distribute incoming cold water at the bottom of the tank for efficient heating.
• Expansion tank. The expansion tank is a small water tank installed in the water supply line to the water heater. The expansion tank contains an air bladder that partially fills the tank. The air bladder cushions water hammer and absorbs excessive water pressure caused by thermal expansion. Water hammer is a pressure surge caused when water flow is forced to stop or change direction suddenly, which results in a hammering sound. Thermal expansion is a change in volume in response to a change in temperature through heat transfer.
• Heating element. The heating element, which is the heat source inside an electric water heater, extends directly into the tank, where it heats the water around it. Most electric water heaters have two heating elements, one at the bottom of the tank and one at the top. The bottom element handles most of the load, heating cold water as it enters at the bottom of the tank. The top element only operates to give water at the top of the tank a quick water-heating boost when needed.