Our hot water heater clogs at the top. The pressure goes away and we have to unhook the hot water side and push a rod down to break up the deposits that are clogging the to of the heater. How do we fix this without buying a new hot water heater.

Hi cthrone and welcome, have you flushed the heater out? If not try that and see if it helps. Good luck

With that much debris, it sounds like a dip tube issue or possibly anode deposits.

That sounds like corroded or defective heat sink nipples to me, replace.