dtockeii
New Member
Glad I found this forum, I've been reading through threads the past few days and it seems there are quite a lot of knowledgable folks on here. Hoping you're willing to help me.
I have a 7 year old water heater in my home that has decided to start (and stop) leaking on me. My water is public water, not very hard in my opinion and I do not soften it.
The first leak started about two months ago. The only thing I had recently done to the tank was turn up the temperature just a tad.
What I noticed:
I looked all over to identify a cause but to my best abilities, without taking it apart, it appears to be leaking somewhere beneath the insulation at mid tank somewhere. The really strange part was it just stopped one day and was fine for about 2 months.
During that time, I elected to fully drain / refill the tank to purge any sediment (not much came out). When I refilled it I noticed the water was coming out rather rusty for a time. I assumed this was normal as sediment / rust had to re-settle after it was kicked up during re-fill. Within about 4hrs, the rust was gone and it was working fine again.
We went on vacation and I put the temperature setting to "vacation". I came back from vacation about 2 weeks later to find that the leak had returned, same exact symptoms.
I'm prepared to buy a new tank but wanted to see what folks on here thought first. It was a bit shocking to me that the tank already went after 7 years when my parents in their 25 year old house have never had to replace theirs, but then I am on a different water supply.
Does this describe a water heater needing replacement?
Thanks!
-Dale
I have a 7 year old water heater in my home that has decided to start (and stop) leaking on me. My water is public water, not very hard in my opinion and I do not soften it.
The first leak started about two months ago. The only thing I had recently done to the tank was turn up the temperature just a tad.
What I noticed:
- Amount of water leaking was minimal, only enough to create a small puddle about 12" in diameter on the floor
- Water at the very bottom of the water heater had pooled up and started getting onto the floor
- Insulation between outer shell and inner tank was wet
- I could see a very slow drip from the insulation
- No leaks at cold/hot pipe fittings
- No leaks at pressure release valve
- No leaks at drain valve
- No leaks at bottom of actual tank (above the gas heating element)
I looked all over to identify a cause but to my best abilities, without taking it apart, it appears to be leaking somewhere beneath the insulation at mid tank somewhere. The really strange part was it just stopped one day and was fine for about 2 months.
During that time, I elected to fully drain / refill the tank to purge any sediment (not much came out). When I refilled it I noticed the water was coming out rather rusty for a time. I assumed this was normal as sediment / rust had to re-settle after it was kicked up during re-fill. Within about 4hrs, the rust was gone and it was working fine again.
We went on vacation and I put the temperature setting to "vacation". I came back from vacation about 2 weeks later to find that the leak had returned, same exact symptoms.
I'm prepared to buy a new tank but wanted to see what folks on here thought first. It was a bit shocking to me that the tank already went after 7 years when my parents in their 25 year old house have never had to replace theirs, but then I am on a different water supply.
Does this describe a water heater needing replacement?
Thanks!
-Dale