Anne,
The water heater bypass valves installed when your rig was made were NOT the quarter turn versions used in newer Airstreams. My 99 34fter has the valves where you have to keep turning them until they will turn on further (open or closed), while my '02 Bambi as the quarter turn valves. There is NO visual way to look at your bypass valves and determine whether they are open of closed. In bypass mode, you want the two OUTSIDE bypass valves CLOSED and the one in the MIDDLE open. To use the water heater, you want the two OUTSIDE valves OPEN and the MIDDLE one closed. By the MIDDLE valve I mean the one that is BETWEEN the two OUTSIDE valves.
As you have attempted to remove the reducer/petcock without any luck, you should pretty much assume that it is permanently seized in place. Attempting to use additional leverage somehow may well just round off the shoulders on the reducer and still leave it firmly seized in place.
There is no such thing as a petcock/anode combination. An anode rod looks very similar to the Hot Rod that you purchased except it does NOT have any wires associated (ie it is just a probe that extends into the water heater tank.
As for the fact that the Hot Rod you purchased stating that it was for Atwood water heaters is simply saying that it mechanically works. It does not imply any endorsement by Atwood. As Hunter has pointed out, she and many others have been using Hot Rods in their Atwood water heaters for many years without issues, and your water heater is well beyond the Atwood warranty anyway, so if you could remove the petcock and install the Hot Rod, it would not make any difference. I was just pointing out that Atwood does not support the installation of such and if your water heater is in warranty, installing a Hot Rod will void that warranty. (they are protecting their legal behinds).
If the situation arises where a new water heater is in order, you might consider getting the model with the electric heating element built-in by Atwood. The Hot Rod, while good, is not as powerful as the factory version, which btw, is installed from the backside of the water heater. The additional cost in minimal. There would have to be some wiring done to bring the 120V over to the water heater and a new control switch would be in order to switch the electric and/or gas into operation, but these are NOT difficult for anyone capable of installing a new water heater.
As you mentioned that you suspect that there might be trash in the water heater, understand that the water heater internal zinc lining produces a white deposit that accumulates. This is why that Atwood recommends that you flush the tank every month or so and at least twice a year, remove the overtemp/overpressure valve, pour in a gallon of white vinegar, button things back up, finish filling the tank with water, fire it up and let it soak in the hot water/vinegar solution overnight. Afterwards, drain the tank and flush thoroughly. I got the vinegar suggestion directly from Atwood.
David
On Apr 18, 2012, at 12:45 PM, Hunter Hampton wrote:
> On 4/18/2012 12:34 PM, Anne Pearse Hocker wrote:
> > Hunter, what did you see that made you think an anode rod was already in there? All I can see is the petcock/drain valve, unless they sell them as a combo unit.
> Simple... I saw something in there that wasn't the same as the white
> plug that came with my water heater, and didn't look like my Hott Rod....
>
> I couldn't think of what else would be there.
>
> Hunter
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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