I need a course in R-Pod water Heater 1001

When I remove the anode rod, the water pours into grooves of the outer rim..and seeps down along the inside of the Rpod, actually seeping out the sprayed-on foam around the low point drain. Is there any way to avoid this other than my ridiculous visquine and masking tape?

Well, I TRIED to 'silicone' it....I had a tube of 'silicone', but it was 'silicone caulk', and even after waiting around for four hours, it is still like gooey toothpaste...so I'm gonna put tape and visquine all over it just to get the heater emptied before the winterizing (antifreeze). I was hoping there was a magic solution, like "press the blue button and that will divert the water heater dumping into the gray water tank", LOL :)

If you want, you can just set you valves to winter/storage, and otherwise do your winterization now, and drain the WH when you get time. It is a solid 6 gallons of water, and while it freezing solid will be bad, unless you live pretty far north, it isn't going to stay below freezing, and be far enough below freezing to solidify a insulated 6 gallon container for a bit longer this year.

Originally posted by TrinityTurret I noticed the anode rode hole is about an inch above the bottom of the heater...thusly, there is still about a half-inch of water in the heater. Will THAT AMOUNT of water cause any problems should it freeze up? If so, without some kind of pump, I can't get all the water out...

I use a 1/8" tube cut a good angle on one end and siphon the rest of the water out. I don't want to take a chance at - 30* or worse.