Braided Stainless steel water heater supply burst!

[walter O]

I should of learned from experience! I manage apartments and am a remodeling professional.
I had on separate occasions hoses burst on 2 different water heaters in the same building. Today the Braided hose in my own hose burst. That is 3 times it has happened to me. I purchased all the hoses from a very respected local supply house. The manager said he has never heard of it happening at all. I tried to convince him there may be a problem, and I now have had it happen 3 times and all the hoses came from his store.

They push the Braided hoses and today he tells me soon that may be all you can buy. It is costing too much to produce any thing but the Braided. So...

How common is this problem?

What is the best hose to use?

Mine developed a pin hole right above the fitting. As of now I have no damage, but I had years ago, a temp and pressure valve go bad. The heater is in the garage raised on a stand that sits on a platform the same height as the living room floor. When the valve went bad water got under the wall plate and ruined the engineered hardwood, but it took 2 months before it showed. Hoping it was a lot less water and that there will be no damage this time.

Thanks

 

[Reach4]

Corrugated copper and corrugated stainless steel are better.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

some places (earthquake country) require flexible supply lines, some require rigid. Done right, rigid won't leak (well, some places have water issues that can put pinholes in copper, but that isn't all that common - very location dependent).

 

[Terry]

I have been using corrugated copper and corrugated stainless connectors on my water heaters. I'm not installing braided water supplies for water heaters. I have been removing braided supplies at the water heaters that have been leaking.

For lavs and kitchen faucets I've been using the braided.

 

[Dj2]

"How common is this problem?"

- Not very common. From now on, buy your connectors somewhere else and make sure a different brand.

"What is the best hose to use?"

- I use PVC and Stainless Steel connectors and replace them often.

 

[DaveDIY]

The melted plastic ring around the inlets may indicated your exaust vent is partically clogged and excess heat has melted thhe ring and damaged the hose. The rust also indicated that the leak has been going on a long time. I have always used the corrigated copper flex hoses and now SS corrigated flex hose due to cost. The copper one usually fail due to the steel pipe leaking (not filed down to get a flat surface and years of a slight leak eats the steel pipe threads) and not the supply line itself. All the copper corrigated lasted longer than the 30 year old water heaters. I am new to the SS one, so don't know its longivity. The design are different on copper vs stainless -- spiral vs repeated ring pattern. The stainless is hard to bend. Just don't have a torque on the tube itself nor bend at within a few inches of the connectors. the seal is made by the rubber washer and not threads so don't over tighen.