Will moisture completely short out in my water heater Electronics

[Roger Salinas]

My landlord recently installed a brand new water heater did a bad plumbing job which caused the Cold Water to leak incessantly on to the top of the unit for about 2 or 3 days before it was noticed. When I went to replace the plumbing to the water heater I noticed that the water heater was completely inundated with water as well as rust having developed on the sides top and bottom. I used fans and blower equipment to dry everything I could and replaced the faulty Plumbing. No leaks water heater works good for about 3 days and now will not work at all. The reset button will not engage and there are no Breakers tripped on the house junction box. can moisture from such a leak get so far into the unit that it corrodes Electronics and damages it past repair to the point of needing to be replaced?

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Depends on the brand of heater....
most likely the wire nuts that connect the water heater to the power lines are under water at
this time buried down in the cup that holds them.... shut it down and dry it out

you need to dry out the wire nuts and see if it works and see if you got power to
the heater

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Roger Salinas]

Depends on the brand of heater....
most likely the wire nuts that connect the water heater to the power lines are under water at
this time buried down in the cup that holds them.... shut it down and dry it out

you need to dry out the wire nuts and see if it works and see if you got power to
the heater

Thanks for the reply Mark. Yes sir I did that quite thoroughly in my opinion as I used forced air over a period of several hours and even had plentiful hot water for two days afterwards. Now the water is just warm enough to say it's not cold. Just enough that it doesn't make you want to gasp for air when it hits your body. Its set at 140° and after the 2 days of reinstated hot water, the water began to cool and the reset had been tripped. Any other ideas?

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

If you have not done this already....

Perhaps you ought to take the front panel covers off the heater and see how
much moisture has collected inside the insulation...... its not dangerous to do
as long as you have no kids poking around the unit while it is left open .....

Maybe wear some rubber gloves and open it up, pull the insulation off the controls
and let it air out inside for a
few days and see if it is possibly grounded out
due to excess moisture...

 

[Fitter30]

Somebody that knows how to use a volt/ohm meter and a amp probe needs to check out the controls and elements. None of the thermostats are made to get wet.

 

[Jeff H Young]

Seriously call your landlord. He dosent know what he is doing and you dont either? Nice of you but this could be dangerous , but maybe you owe him .
if the reset button pops you have a problem. are you 100 percent sure its got power ? never mind the breaker because you might not even know which breaker. check at the wires with a free harbor freight voltmeter
Dont know why you should go thru all this , your buisness. At least tell landlord its all screwed up and no hot water.
usually a owner would return it to the big box store or call warranty service. not the right thing to do but thats what they do

 

[Jadnashua]

SHort answer...electronics for a WH are not designed to be waterproof. Water can cause them to fail. Doesn't mean they are, if you can dry them out, but none of the water in the pipes is equivalent to distilled (which has no impurities in it), and that means the water will conduct some, and that can fry electronic components when they can conduct where they weren't designed to.

If you're really lucky, opening it up and drying it out might restore it to normal, but some bits may have corroded, shorted out, or rusted, and drying that won't fix it.

 

[Dj2]

If you are the tenant, you shouldn't fiddle with the water heater. This is not your responsibility.
Call your landlord today.