Need Advice Water Heater help

I started smelling sulfer in the master bathroom sink only when the hot water was running. A quick google search told me the anode rod in the hot water heater likely needed to be replaced. I went down to the garage and looked at the water heater and I can't seem to find the rod. The top only has a water in, water out, and vent for the gas burner. I then started googling the model number (Rheem 22VR75-70N) and found that a few sites list it as a "6YR" water heater - I assume that means it's only supposed to last 6 years? I had always thought water heaters were about 15 year items. Anyway, the townhouse is 6 years old now, do I need to look at replacing this thing? Or is there just an anode rod I can't find? Any advice is helpful. I consider myself pretty handy, but I only know the basics of plumbing.

 

with my limited experience, I have found that electric water heaters do last some 15 plus years, but the elements go out much faster than the actual whole vessel. The electrods are easily replaced and cheap, Tribels off of Shaw rod sells quite a few. Give em a call.
http://www.etribles.com/Home.asp?SessionID=04DE3B9663C44822B64032D1438A4BE&PageID=628&ItemID=39

 

We have the same problem. It has been brought up before in the forum. See:

http://www.broadlandshoa.org/hoaforum/showthread.php?t=5930&highlight=Water+Stench

There are a couple of other threads dealing with this.

For us, a bit of bleach down the sink overflow solves the problem for a while.

-Jim