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Thread: Hot water heater leak!

  1. #1
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Hot water heater leak!

    Our hot water heater failed and leaked yesterday! I caught it real quick, stopped the leak and had to clean up only about 5 gallons of water. Unfortunately, it made it into my "studio" and damaged the carpeting, but no gear was damaged!



    I have to get a leak detector (or two) and risers for all the gear, including empty guitar cases.

  2. #2
    Forum Member OldStrummer's Avatar
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    Re: Hot water heater leak!

    Wow, sorry to hear it, Don. I'm glad you caught it before too much damage was caused. It sounds like you think it may happen again?

    On a lighter note, why is it called a hot water heater? If the water is already hot, why does it need heating?
    Striving to be ordinary

    Proud to be a TFF Dumbass!

  3. #3
    Forum Member phantomman's Avatar
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    Re: Hot water heater leak!

    I went tankless (Rinnai) about fifteen years ago. I don't miss that kind of aggravation a-tall.
    "When injustice becomes law then rebellion becomes duty."

  4. #4
    Forum Member dirtdog's Avatar
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    Re: Hot water heater leak!

    I’ve had that happen - not fun. Part of my basement floor is still exposed due to a small flood a couple of years ago. Haven’t had a repeat of that so I think it’s safe to get the floor covered again.

    We installed a tankless at the lake house when we owned it. I was superb esp. given we didn’t use a whole lot of hot water. Didn’t make sense to keep 40 gallons heated when we only needed a few gallons a weekend. The tankless’ weak spot for us was the sand particles that made it through the pump...eventually killed the tankless...or at least flow sensor part of the tankless. But brilliant if you’ve got sediment free water!

  5. #5
    Forum Member gibsonjunkie's Avatar
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    Re: Hot water heater leak!

    I was a plumber for a dozen years and sold a ton (I guess a a lot more than that) of water heaters. They WILL leak. The main difference between is a 5 and 10 year heater is the warranty - there is little difference in the actual tanks. The way gas burns to heat water practically guarantees that the tank will fail. The expansion and contraction when the tank is heated breaks down the glass lining so the steel is exposed and the flue gasses produce Carbonic Acid which causes metal failure on the inside. of the flue.

    We also switched to a Navien tankless - best thing I ever did. OF course they aren't cheap - My brother installed mine 8 years ago and it is great. I'm not sure I would have sprung for the cost if he hadn't done it for me. The big thing is that it is around 98% efficient compare to 75-80% efficient and, as said before, you are not paying to keep water hot that you already paid to get hot to begin with. The other benefit is you NEVER run out of hot water. We never really got to user our whirlpool tub before we got it. We'd run out the 50 gallon heater before it filled the tub and it would dump cold water into the tub at the end.

    We also have water issues in our basement so I use one of these. https://www.amazon.com/D-Link-Notifi.../dp/B07NDNF484 It connects to WiFi and will even e-mail me to tell me I have a leak.

    You are lucky about catching it before too much was damaged. I've seem some real messes due to leaking tanks.
    "We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness." Mark Twain

  6. #6
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    Re: Hot water heater leak!

    Always have a containment around the heater to drain the leak to a safe place. I've gone through several heaters since the mid 80's, but most were under warranty. The last one was a replacement, but started leaking before the 8 year warranty. They changed the rules, so now the second heater doesn't have to make warranty. I replaced it with a 12 year heater a few years ago, and haven't repaired my water softener, so it may make the term!

  7. #7
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: Hot water heater leak!

    This was an indirect water heater- an Amtrol Boilermate. It looks like a big blue propane tank and is plastic lined. We first went with them about 25 years ago because the old tankless system that was in our house didn't meet our water needs. We have oil heat, didn't want an electric water heater, and though it was expensive to buy and install, Amtrol promised long life and had a lifetime warranty.

    Unfortunately, they still have their share of failures. This is the second one to fail. The first lasted a long time- over 15 years, and eventually rusted and developed a very small, slow, predictable leak (no damage was done). This one was 9 years old and developed a bigger leak over a very short period of time- my basement was dry in the morning and wet in the afternoon. I picked up about 5 gallons with my shop vac. They've replaced it again under warranty. Unfortunately, that does not include labor and damage to the carpeting. I noticed that the new one only has a 6 year warranty. Considering that these are expensive to buy and even more expensive to install, we'll probably replace it with something else next time.

  8. #8
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    Re: Hot water heater leak!

    I've used electric since I replaced the first gas water heater in the trailer we bought coming home from the service. I found that gas water heaters were the leading cause of fire in mobile homes! The condensation softens the wood floor, and as the heater drops, it breaks the gas line, (there's already a flame ready with most heaters!) After working at the power company through the 80's, I've stayed with electric. (We don't have natural gas on our property.)
    I used instant heaters on the car wash we had there, but 3 at 7KW each sure made the meter spin. Of course we had 4GPM, 140 degree water as long as you wanted! Only had 1 fail in 10 years.

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