Water heater rust? Conflicting advice...

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DJL

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I have a Bradford White 48 gallon water heater, model number MITW50L6BN12. It is a power vent model (i think that's the right terminology) and it is 12 years old.

The attached picture shows a lot of rust on the cold water supply input. I have been told by a few local guys just to wait until it fails and then replace it. They say to watch for a slow leak to appear, that I'll see a little bit of water on the floor by the drain, and that is the time to replace it. A different local guy thinks I should go ahead and replace it immediately.

What do you think I should do? Replace it ASAP or wait for a slow leak to form?

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DJL

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If it is in an area where a leak will cause no harm, then I would let it be.
The floor is concrete in a mechanical room that is about 7 feet wide. So, the water heater and drain are about 5 feet away from a framed wall. The water heater is in my basement, which is finished, with exception to the mechanical room where the water heater is.

When the water heater fails will it more likely be a slow developing leak or a sudden release that is likely to fill the mechanical room and spill over to the surrounding rooms?
 

CountryBumkin

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That's the problem - no one can say for sure how it will fail or when it will fail. Assuming it's a "worse case failure", what is your risk, can you afford to replace now?
 

DJL

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Yeah, I think I can afford to do it now. It just bothers me that a couple of professionals have said to let it go. My line of thinking is that once the rust breeches the tank, it will start spraying out of the crack, even if it's only a light spray at first, it seems like it could quickly become a heavy spray. I'm just guessing at all this though, and I don't have any experience with what is likely to happen.

Thanks for everyone's responses.
 

Asktom

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When you get the new heater don't let the installer hook copper directly to the steel nipple, that was the cause of your problem.
 

Dj2

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From the picture, the nipple is badly corroded, and at 12 years old, I would replace the water heater, not the nipple.
New water heaters come with factory installed correct nipples, which won't rust like this.
 

DJL

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When you get the new heater don't let the installer hook copper directly to the steel nipple, that was the cause of your problem.

From the picture, the nipple is badly corroded, and at 12 years old, I would replace the water heater, not the nipple.
New water heaters come with factory installed correct nipples, which won't rust like this.

So, I'm not sure I follow here...was the problem the installer hooking the nipple straight to copper as asktom suggests? Or was it incorrect nipples installed at the factory like dj2's post seems to imply?
 

hj

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The factory installed nipples are "dielectric" but in many cases that just means they are a cosmetic feature and do NOT actually prevent this from occurring. It could have happer because of both, either, or NONE of those reasons.
 

Dj2

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In the old days (not too long ago actually), new water heaters came without nipples. I suspect that your water heater is one of those, and the installer used galvanized nipples (by the amount of rust on them).

Frankly, you won't even be able to remove the nipples without twisting them out of shape or breaking them, if you were planning on replacing them.

I would not wait for a leak and seriously consider replacing the unit. Why? leaks always happen in the wrong time.
 
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