Short circuiting a water heater battery

[Buffy]

Posted for a friend:

 

"I recall hearing a while back that if you solder a wire between the input and

output pipes of your water heater that the sacrificial anode inside it will last

longer. This is because the heater itself will not serve as a battery with the

wire in place. Looking now, however, I can find no information on this.

Does anyone know about this? While the idea seems sound, wouldn't the

pipes be electrically connected anyway?"

 

Does anyone know?

 

Charged water,

Buffy

[Pyrotex]

Where electricity is concerned, especially at household current levels, I would stay clear of any "common knowledge" or "secret tips" that involve rewiring appliances.

 

Remember, once everybody KNEW that leaving flourescent lights on 24x7 consumed less electrical power than turning them on only when needed. Several major companies (including TI, where I worked) tested this rigorously in the Seventies, and it was totally bogus. It still is bogus.

 

...cause the Vandals took the handles :P

Pyro

[Turtle]

Posted for a friend:

 

"I recall hearing a while back that if you solder a wire between the input and

output pipes of your water heater that the sacrificial anode inside it will last

longer. This is because the heater itself will not serve as a battery with the

wire in place. Looking now, however, I can find no information on this.

Does anyone know about this? While the idea seems sound, wouldn't the

pipes be electrically connected anyway?"

 

Does anyone know?

 

Charged water,

Buffy

 

Sounds like tommyrot to me. Typically, hot-water tanks are steel with a porcelain coating inside so if your pipes are copper or galvanized steel then they are shorted by the tank itself where they attach to the fittings. If you have plastic pipes then it's a no-brainer.