Change Your Water Heater Anode

This is also a review of the DeWalt DCF900 Brushless 3-Speed Impact Wrench.

We put in in-floor radiant heat in the shop when we built it.  This works pretty well, but a couple of years ago, I noticed that the heating elements were corroding away rather rapidly.  I realized that with our hard water, the anode likely needed to be changed.  I tried to replace it last year, but could not get it to budge.  I tried an air impact wrench, a normal Ridgid impact driver, a breaker bar, I even tried a 6 foot pipe on the breaker bar.  All that did was spin the water heater.  Not good.  I tried propping it in place while using the breaker, but still could not get it to budge.

After checking the elements this fall prior to turning on the heat, and seeing they were corroded again, I decided I needed a high-torque impact wrench.  After some research, the DeWalt DCF900 seemed to fit the bill, as I already have numerous DeWalt 20V tools, and this has a very high break-away torque, something I deemed necessary for this task.

I already purchased a 1 1/6″ socket for this task, so I slapped it on the wrench, and seated it on the head of the anode.  Pulled the trigger, and felt it hit about 3 times before it popped, and out came the anode.

I removed it, and boy, was it corroded.  There was almost no zinc left.

This wrench proved awesome.  I haven’t had the opportunity to use it much more, but for this one task where a very high break-away torque was needed, it rose to the task.

This is a large tool, weighing just over 7 lbs without battery.  It has an impressive max breakaway torque of 1400 ft-lbs, and a fastening torque of 1030 ft-lbs.

Specifications

Mode	Application	RPM
Precision Wrench™ Mode	Precision Wrench™	0–820 forward 0–2300 reverse
Low Mode	Normal Impacting	0–650 forward 0–2300 reverse
Medium Mode	Medium Impacting	0–1040 forward 0–2300 reverse
High Mode	High Speed Impacting	0–2300 forward 0–2300 reverse

It has 3 speeds, plus Precision Wrench™ mode.  The Precision Wrench™ mode is included to help prevent overtightening in forward, and run-off in reverse, for additional user control.

Overall, I am very happy with this impact wrench.  I can see a lot of uses around the shop and mill where high torque applications are needed.

Thanks for viewing.  I hope you find this useful.