Is my new hot water heater defective or am I?

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Killacam311

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Just bought and installed a Rheem 50 gallon electric water heater. Install went ok, everything is working, but im getting a slow seep of water out of this white cap on the top of the brand new unit... Any ideas what the issue could be? Is this new unit defective? What is the white cap? Driving me nuts...
 

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Phog

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That looks like a hole in the casing where they inject the foam insulation during manufacturing. I'm going to let one of the pros here speak to the source of the water coming out, I've not seen that except on old tanks.
 

hj

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If it were one of the threads, it would come out around the pipe before it could create enough pressure to come onto the top of the tank. You have a defective heater.
 

Killacam311

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This leak is slow seepage when the water is turned on. I think it must be a defective heater. This sucks.
 

Terry

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You can pull the T&P, and the hot and cold nipples and reinstall with tape.
If it still leaks, it's defective.

The flex connectors on top don't need tape.
 

Phog

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You can pull the T&P, and the hot and cold nipples and reinstall with tape.
If it still leaks, it's defective.

The flex connectors on top don't need tape.

Also, since it sounds like you're a DIYer, be careful to coordinate any such troubleshooting activities with Rheem. Call and open a support ticket, let them instruct what you to do first, instead of taking your own initiative. Whenever the installer is not a licensed plumber there is always a little extra scrutiny when something goes wrong during install. This sounds like a clear defective product but just don't give them any reason to say that you caused the issue yourself.
 

HudsonDIY

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Just to throw this out there. I recently went through three WH's from Home Depot all of which leaked before I got one that didn't leak. Seems the clowns in their warehouse play ping pong with them (store manager's words, not mine). I see its a Rheem and know that's the brand HD carries so by my incredible powers of deduction I'm thinking you may have bought it from HD. It may have been on a pallet that was dropped, so you could very well go back and get one from the same pallet. Talk to the store manager, the boxes are tagged with shipment dates from the HD warehouse. That way you can be sure to get one from another shipment and pallet.
 

hj

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The "leakage" problem has NOTHING to do with "playing ping pong" or dropping the heaters. It a a matter of factory inspections which, I believe, are not done for Home Depot items, so the buyer becomes the inspector. If there is a problem, but the buyer wants to live with it, the companies made money, otherwise the item would have to have been discarded. I have had MANY defective things which the manufacturers insist would NEVER have left their factory.
 

ImOld

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This always annoys me no end:mad: You purchased a DEFECTIVE product and it should be RETURNED! Do not contact Rheem. As hj has stated, you are the inspector.

I don't hesitate for one second to return anything anywhere if I find any defect. I even returned a jar of peanuts to Wally World because it had excessive salt in the jar.

Return your defective water heater.:mad:
 

Mliu

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I agree with pulling the heater and returning it for a replacement IF the water is, in fact, coming up from around that plug. But before you go to all that trouble, be absolutely sure that's the source of the water. Have you dried off the top and observed the water seeping out from around that plastic plug? Are you sure no water is dripping from above the tank?
 
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