jack_the_bear
Member
I am trying to winterize our new 5th wheel and have gotten stuck on the step to drain the water heater. Our heater is a Suburban model SW10DE. The anode also serves as the drain plug. I first tried to unscrew the plug with a pair of pliers - couldn't budge it. Then I tried some vise grips - still wouldn't budge. Then I sprayed it thoroughly with some WD-40, let it sit for a day, and tried to open it with a plumbing drain wrench - still wouldn't budge. I went to Lowe's and bought a shower drain socket wrench and a 1/4 inch diameter steel rod to operate it and bent the rod into a circle. I went back to Lowe's and bought a 1/2 inch drive socket set only to find out that the biggest socket (1 inch) wasn't big enough to circle the nut, went back to Lowe's and got a bigger socket, and tried again - still wouldn't budge. I then put a 1 foot long 1 1/4 inch diameter steel plumbing pipe over the end of the socket wrench handle to get some more leverage and actually bent the socket wrench handle, but the nut still would not budge. I'm out of ideas here. Although the low nighttime temps have only been in the upper 20's so far, I don't think I can count on a warm winter for the next 3 months, and I really need to drain this thing. Any ideas from out there?