I moved into a house around 2010 and I was told by an inspector that the water heater might need to be replaced sometime in the future. I did not heed that warning as I at the time did not know anything about plumbing. I had boiler issues which led me to watch a lot of youtube videos and luckily on the sidebar there was a video on how to replace an anode rod for a water heater. Luckily I watched it and looked simple enough so I bought the flexible anode rod on amazon a week ago and forgot about it. I then decided on Christmas of all days to do it and I am glad I did because looking at the rod, it's gone and any protection it had wasn't there. Here are the two videos to convince me on doing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzecqGyCllU This is my water tank manufacturer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IUNIUZz4Os This Old House is always good Follow the video and it should save you a lot of money. I will be honest though I have a Milwaukee Impact Wrench that has 700 lbs of torque. I tried using a 18 inch Harbor Freight Breaker bar and I was moving the tank versus the anode rod. I tend used the impact wrench on low setting (100 lbs) and no movement. Then I set it on high and it took about 30 seconds to hammer it out. I actually hammered it so much that it twisted a good portion of the anode rod off and now its lost in the tank (damnit) But I put the new flexible rod it (I don't have the clearance to put a single rod in and I did not want to break the water and gas connections) I bought the flexible anode rod on amazon (rheem not the other company, rheem is also my water heater company as well) and the ratchet socket on amazon tekton. I bought the cheaper one as I thought I could use the breaker bar only. This model is not meant for using with an impact wrench but I did, it worked but I would not do it everyday. Follow the video as they explain it much better than I ever could but the rod cost 42 dollars, would be 20 dollars for the non flexible. And hopefully it will prevent a water heater failure for a few more years. It's not exactly a dazzling diy project but it is maintenance that we should all heed since everyone has a water heater and most have this style water tank. I bet it would cost a lot to have a plumber do it.