Looking good. Broc. Peppers cilantro

Tomato Basil

Doing well too. Reseeded empties with mixed hot peppers 5 boxes.

Over seeded weak tomatoes.

Broccoli doing great. Cilantro 8 out of 12. Reseeded 4.

Peppers just now emerging.

Adding light

Added artificial light.

Cilantro looks great.
Broccoli, tomatoes and basil sprouting.

No luck with peppers.  Probably too cold.  Will reseed in warmer place.

Cilantro

Cilantro is doing well.  other crops not so much.

Starting the Garden

On 3/10/2013 I planted seeds as follows:

18 cherry tomatoes

18 basil plants

12 jalepeno better

12 Cilantro plants

12 broccoli plants.

Lets hope they germinate.

Replacing the Anode Rod

Several weeks ago I picked up an anode rod at home depot. My friend Mark Andersen had clued me in several years ago to the need to periodically replace the anode rod in a water heater, but it had taken me a long time to finally get a round to it. See the video at http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20047047,00.html for more on anode rods.

The project starts when I turn off the water, gas and electricity and remove the exhaust gas fan so I can get access to the anode rod. It needs a 1 1/16" socket to unscrew it, but of course that is much larger than anyone has around the house. I tried with an adjustable wrench and a 24" pipe wrench but neither got me anywhere. So off to home depot to get the right size socket, and I realize that I might as well get a beefy wrench too. Just as in the video it is hard as can be to get the anode out. I struggle and struggle, and finally put the pipe wrench on the end of the socket wrench to get more leverage and succeed. Wow that was tough.

So what does the old anode look like? It looks total corroded. I probably should have replaced it sooner. Anyway, I replace it with the new one, see pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.r.glasgow/AnodeRodeReplacement#5456104752754527954

So what's the story here? Its two things...

• First, when I first realized that I should replace the rod, I called a few plumbers. Nobody would do it for me. Seems like they'd rather just replace the entire water heater. In hind sight, I should have called until a found a plumber that would do it, and kept him on my list of good plumbers.


• Second, the water heater manufacturers also clearly don't want you to replace the anode. Why would they. If it doubles or triples the life span of the water heater, that cannot be good for sales. How do I know they don't want you to replace the rod? Take a look where it is located. On the left you can see the bright white hex nut on the top of the rod in the middle of the picture underneath the fan. In the picture on the right you can see the plentiful space on top of the water heater where they could have placed the rod.
  
  So you want to replace your anode rod? Its not just a matter to taking it out. You need to remove 10 screws to get the fan off before you can even start the job. Argh!