Hot water heater tank contamination

[jfice13]

So....I came home the other day to my hot water leaking water all over the basement floor. I took off the supply hoses and found that the cold water inlet nipple was badly deteriorated around the threads and was no longer able to make a seal with the gasket in the supply hose.



I decided at 7pm to start some emergency plumbing work, since I value hot showers in the morning. I went to the big box (orange one) and they only had 3" dielectric nipples, so in a pinch, I decided I would use 6" galvanized steel nipples until I can get my hands on the proper 5" dielectric nipples.



So far so good.....that is until I put a pipe wrench to the 15+ yr old water heaters nipples. Even with my largest wrench and almost tipping the water heater over from torque, nothing was budging. The nipple itself started to deform and collapse on me.



This is a common occurrence when I'm working on cars suspensions here in the N.East due to all the salt. Everything is rust-welded stuck. So the mechanic in me said, oh, this is no problem. Let me do what I always do --> PB Blaster and torch. I sprayed the nipples with PB Blaster and hit it with the MAPP torch for about 30-60 seconds each. Then they came loose like butter. No issues there.



Installed the new temporary nipples. Hooked up the hoses. Leak tested. Everything great! Job well done....but wait...



My hot water has smelled so strongly of PB blaster for days, it's unbelievable. That stuff is some kind of unholy concoction. I thought to myself, 2 or 3 sprays a nipple and after a hot shower or two, the stuff will be gone. Wrong....



It doesn't seem to be fading even in the least. I assume its floating like a slick on top of the water in the heater, but I had thought the first few gallons of flower through it would take it all with it right off the top. It didn't happen the way I thought.



Any thoughts on how to get rid of this unholy hellish stuff out of my water heater? Now every time I run the dishwasher, do the laundry, take a shower, I'm infusing everything with some small amount of PB blaster. Enough that I can still smell it very strongly.



Do I think it will kill me? No. Am I happy about the way it turned out? Not really.



Any tips, tricks, or suggestions? My only thought it to open up the hot water outlet hose and put a few drops of Dawn liquid dishwashing soap in. My hope is that the soap will help to break up and emulsify the PB blaster penetrating oil slick on top and disperse it, such that it actually flushes as I use hot water over the next few days.

 

[Mliu]

The problem is, you didn't just contaminate your water heater. You contaminated ALL the plumbing in your house (since some of the chemical could have migrated back out the cold water inlet to your heater and into your cold water pipes, both the cold and the hot pipes should be considered contaminated). You will also have to replace all the piping and all the fixtures. I doubt there's any way to restore your plumbing to safe, potable status without re-piping your home because PB Blaster is not water-soluble. And I'm sure it's carcinogenic to consume. Even if diluted below (immediately) toxic levels, the odor will persist.

If your dielectric nipples were so badly corroded, then your water heater itself was probably on its last legs. I doubt the problem was salt, unless you live along the seaside. Presumably, the road salt trucks don't drive through your basement. So instead of replacing your nipples, you should have replaced your water heater. But now you get to do that along with all the pipes and fixtures in your house.

Sorry.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Themp]

Here is a link for PB Blaster in a well:

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/pb-blaster-in-well-water-wont-go-away.78075/

The last post is a link to a cleaner that might be able to be used to clean the hot water side of your plumbing. I would pull the water heater and then connect the hose from the cold to the hot side. On the hot side pour in the solution and then hook up the cold side and let it flush. Do this multiple times till it smells clean. Then put in a new water heater.

 

[Mliu]

I don't see how you could practically flush detergent through the pipes in sufficient quantity to rid the pipes of the chemicals by just squirting some detergent in the pipe and then washing it out with a slug of cold water. Remember that PB Blaster is a penetrating solvent (and a particularly noxious one at that). It's designed to get into the smallest crevices and pores. Now consider your pipes. Do you have PEX, poly, or CPVC? Then the solvent has permeated the surfaces of the plastic. No detergent will get that out (and the integrity of your pipes could be compromised by the solvent). Repipe. Do you have galvanized? Then it will have seeped into every joint and every bit of internal corrosion. Repipe.

Copper would probably suffer the least, but there will still be porous scale deposits inside the pipe that will have absorbed that solvent like a sponge. To clean copper pipes, you would want to flush using a forced recirculation loop (pump) using a heated detergent solution from the hot water supply pipe (at the water heater, which will have to be removed and disposed of) to EVERY fixture angle stop point in the house. That solution would need to circulate for hours. Flush with clean water. I'd follow that with a day or more of circulating a descaling solution. Flush with clean water. Then another round of (fresh) detergent solution. All your flexible supply lines (from the angle stop valves to the fixtures) should be replaced. The angle stop valves should be replaced. All washers, gaskets, o-rings in your fixtures should be replaced. All your fixtures would need to be pulled, disassembled, cleaned (by flushing with detergent, descaling, and detergent), and rebuilt.

This is assuming that only your hot water pipes are contaminated. You would need to do the same flushing procedure on your cold water pipes if any of the solvent back-flowed out of the heater into your cold supply line.