aaargh... garage flooded... water heater (1 Viewer)

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e9999

Gotta get outta here...
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was lucky, got to check something in the garage tonight and there is water on the floor spreading across
Coming from water heater.
Some cardboard boxes in that area on the floor (not smart I know, but the shelves are full) with valuable stuff including some stuff that should not get wet...

so major scrambling, drying off, wet vacuuming...

water dripping from bottom of heater.

Closer inspection shows the top insulation wet. The top is where the water connections are. So probably one of these rusted through? Can't quite see.


Unless the anode is up there some place. Anybody knows?

Any common leakage spot up there some place?



Heater is 21 years old so not too bad.

So, not so friendly reminder to myself: Don't put cardboard boxes directly on the floor if at all possible, dummy...!
 
Yep, anything over 10 is pretty damn good. Put a pan under the new one. There are alarms available to tell you when you have a leak, never tried one but if they make an A/C powered one it would be worth looking into.
 
Yes that old it is toast, I would suggest replacing the gate valve on top with 1/4 turn ball valve plus the dielectric coupler.
Threaded fittings instead of sweat.
When mine went out it took out the base, I fabbed up a 1" sq tube stand with galvy metal top for a replacement.
 
ah, I should count my blessings then I guess.
No point in trying to find out what's wrong and fixing, sounds like?

This is a mother. 75 gallons. 60,000 btu/hr or so. With a circulation pump to keep the water hot all the time (disconnected 21 years ago... :))

Looks like the support are built-in a platform of sorts. Hope I don't have to sawzall it off...

Yea, it's all soldered in. When I put in a water softener last I used flex hoses. May do that for a new heater to make it easier to move next time. What's to know about anodes, dielectric couplings etc?

Anything to know about buying water heaters?
 
Most waterheaters the 5 or 6 year tank is the same as the 10 year tank you just pay more for the warranty. There are sensors that will turn off the tank if there is a leak. Detector water turn off

Use dielectric unions, it helps a tank last longer (not that you will get 20+ years out of your new one) and makes it easy to swap out.

If your going to hook up the hot water recirc loop make sure you use a bronze pump and a thermostat to turn it off when hot water makes it back to the tank.

75 gal is about the largest gas waterheater you can get in a residential waterheater.

Is it a chimney or direct vent heater?
 
water pipes are copper. Where do you best put these dielectric unions?

Galvanized 3" or so flue going through the ceiling. Surprisingly, open at the top of heater. To suck in cold air to keep the flue colder?

Is it usually possible to remove the outer shell easily so I can see what's under there?
 
21 years is outstanding - I usually replace every 6-8 years. Just did another one last December. 50 gallon IIRC from Bradford & White. Installed $1400. Anything bigger than that starts running major, major $$$. B&W is a good brand. Some of the water heaters out there qualify for the tax credit/rebate, but they are mostly the ultra efficient tankless kind and pipes in older homes don't react well to those according to my plumber.
 
Damn, that's a long life for a heater. Here in S. Tx the water is so hard that you have to drain the tank at least a couple of times a year to keep the lime from building up and even then your lucky to get 5 or so years out of the tank.
 
I have a water softener in line, maybe that helped?
 
Check out the ICON system from Bradford White. There are add-ons to it that allow for programmable thermostats, water sensors to shut off the water if a leak is detected. I just heard a presentation from the manufacturers rep for our area- looks like it is pretty cool.


Oh, and 21 years is unheard of here too. 8-10 is more usual here.

Bradford White | ICON
 
When mine went it kept coming on and I couldn't figure out why. Kept asking the kid if she was turning the hot water on. Finally went and looked, constant flow running out the bottom. Had a spare propane set up water heater in the workshop I was going to install there, so I got lucky and put it into the house.
 
well, since you're all impressed with this 21 years, in case that helps, the manufacturer is "American Appliance Manufacturing" or something like that. Must be good guys.

what would be a good size for 2 adults and occasional 2 kids around (they can take cold showers as far as I'm concerned... :D)? This thing is too big I think.
 
I would think a 50 gal would be more than enough. Dielectric nipple is on the side the valve is on.
I take it is gas with the exhaust flue pipe. it does evacuate the exhaust for the gas burner.
 
Unless you have some goofy high-flow shower heads or a large jetted tub to fill intermittently- I would suggest a standard 40 gallon heater for that application. Someone, at some point in history thought they needed a lot more than that (as evidenced by the 75 gallon, high recovery heater that is in there now). And American Water Heater is NOT known for making high quality heaters. I think you just got lucky.
 
Well, you got lucky, and I would think the water softener definitely helped.

I'd go 50 gal too, I hate being without. Then again, I went with tankless. Those are generally 2-3 times as expensive though, and labor about the same if you have someone else do it.

The dielectric union is just the nipple that screws into the tank, that you then screw the flex lines to. It's a galvanized nipple with a plastic inner liner. They go on both the cold and hot lines here. Some heaters come with them.
 
interesting...

I did pry off the top cover (hard) and hacked my way through a bunch of polyurethane foam and soggy fiberglass and rusty cr@p and found a pretty nice looking top after some cleaning up.

At that point, I thought it might just be a matter of tightening the fittings until (long story involving mixing faucets :)eek:) I finally saw some water coming out of a tiny hole in the tank/flue soldered (brazed?) area. There may be more leaks but it sure came out of that one. Odd because the water level in the tank was not full, but it came out of the very top. Several chambers in that thing?

The interesting part is that if it's just a pin hole in the soldered area, could it not be easily fixed with some more soldering or brazing, at least until I got a replacement properly and unhurriedly lined up? Of course, it could well be completely rotten under there.

Pic shows the hole.


Darn, I may have to destroy the platform it's mounted on to take it off....
IMG_2806 arrow.jpg
 
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You might get away with a tack there but I would just about bet there are more or will be.
You can do a slight pressure test on the tank and soap bubbles or watch the gauge cap off the 2 lines on top but be cautious as things will go boom if two much pressure is applied. (I don't suggest pressuring the tank but its a option)

The Anode rod usually gets ate up to prevent this from occurring but yours maybe gone after that length of time in service thus it started in on the tank.
 
is the sacrificial anode the hex cap thing behind the flue there? (Didn't want to take it off in case I can't seal it back up properly.)

What has me wondering is that this hole is right in the solder. Maybe it's just a fluke due to bad soldering?

Should I just dab a bunch of flux on there and try to melt some solder in with a torch to see what would happen? Or is epoxy better?

Not much to lose, really, if it's bad anyway.





How are these things usually attached on the bottom?
 

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