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Author Topic: Water heaters  (Read 804 times)

Offline kvom

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Water heaters
« on: September 21, 2017, 12:33:26 PM »
So there's a small drain pipe at the base of the house that's been dripping luke-warm water for a while.  Wife is all panicky, goes to Lowes where she's told our gas water heater must be going bad.   I call Home Depot who relays me to a local contractor; the woman at the office says their install prices start at $399, but I need an appointment to get an actual quote.

Does anyone here know whether gas water heaters have external drains, and if so whether draining water precedes failure?
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Offline flashover101

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2017, 12:35:07 PM »
Your temperature pressure relief valve might be going bad. It's usually on the side of your water heater that has a small aluminum valve that pops out if the heater is going bad. It's designed to relieve excessive pressure in the tank
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Offline RedDragonATL

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2017, 12:41:34 PM »
I had this same thing and mine (after replacing the relief valve once) was the valve coming from the main water line (which steps down the pressure) to the house, was going bad, letting too much pressure in the overall house line.  Have them check that as well.  Good luck!
Jason

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Offline DOUG

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2017, 01:10:21 PM »
Edit, sounds like the PRV if its piped out
« Last Edit: September 21, 2017, 02:39:19 PM by Doug »

Offline tcdawg

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2017, 01:34:18 PM »
Your temperature pressure relief valve might be going bad. It's usually on the side of your water heater that has a small aluminum valve that pops out if the heater is going bad. It's designed to relieve excessive pressure in the tank

Kirk
I had the same symptom as you, slight dripping of water at an outside drain pipe. 

It was my pressure relief valve going bad.  Had nothing to do with my water heater. 

have a plumber come out and diagnose


Offline kvom

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2017, 01:59:30 PM »
I have someone coming out tomorrow afternoon.  The valve is soldered to a series of copper pipes that go up into the ceiling and then out.  No DIY job here to replace the valve.
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Offline DOUG

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2017, 02:38:50 PM »
I have someone coming out tomorrow afternoon.  The valve is soldered to a series of copper pipes that go up into the ceiling and then out.  No DIY job here to replace the valve.

Kirk, I misread, I thought it was at the base of the water heater, but you wrote base of the house,
the pipe that is plumbed out is the PRV as Tony says, and it does sound like it is starting to leak...

You can purge it and hope it reseats, if you're feeling lucky. 

A plumber can replace it, but how old is it?

My 12 year old at the lake just quit from the IRMA Outage, so I'm going tonight to try and see if I can reset it on the internal thermostat, or decide if I'm going to replace the heating elements and thermostats... $35 vs $500, but 12 years on a well is about all you can hope for.  Its a shorty under the house, PITA!

Offline Danny Kinder

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2017, 02:48:12 PM »
Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.
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Offline kent10sne1

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2017, 02:51:06 PM »
Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.

I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
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http://www.gatrailriders.com/GTRForums/index.php/topic,15401.372.html

Offline clark123456

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2017, 02:52:30 PM »
Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.

I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
Even with multiple things going at the same time: shower, dishwasher, and washing machine?  Did it save you gas/power cost?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Clark
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Offline kent10sne1

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #10 on: September 21, 2017, 02:56:25 PM »
Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.

I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
Even with multiple things going at the same time: shower, dishwasher, and washing machine?  Did it save you gas/power cost?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk



yep, it does take a bit longer for the hot water to reach the other side of the house, but last xmas, 3 showers going and wife in kitchen running dishwasher and laundry going, everyone had hot water.    took me about 5-6 years to re-cop the cost.  my gas bill is almost nothing. not heating standing water when no one is home.  love it.   we had to get a larger one based on the # of full baths and everything else we wanted.    the temp is controlled by a electic thurmastat, with a battery back up, so if we lose power we still get hot water.  :) 
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Kent Casey
37 PitBull Rocker's on ATX AX756 beadlock wheels
3.5FOX RESERVOIR COIL-OVER CONVERSION,5.13 Gears/Eaton Rear Locker
AtlasII 4.3.1 Dynatrac ProRock 44 Front Axle
MC Fenders & Sliders upgraded skids
http://www.gatrailriders.com/GTRForums/index.php/topic,15401.372.html

Offline clark123456

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Re: Water heaters
« Reply #11 on: September 21, 2017, 02:57:26 PM »
Came back from my trip this weekend to our water heater busted. The element on the front of the heater has an o-ring inside that started leaking which lead to it bursting.
It flooded my mud room & garage. Pissed. I paid $850 out the door for a 50 gallon gas water heater.

I put a tankless in a while back, great investment, never run out of hot water.
Even with multiple things going at the same time: shower, dishwasher, and washing machine?  Did it save you gas/power cost?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk



yep, it does take a bit longer for the hot water to reach the other side of the house, but last xmas, 3 showers going and wife in kitchen running dishwasher and laundry going, everyone had hot water.    took me about 5-6 years to re-cop the cost.  my gas bill is almost nothing. not heating standing water when no one is home.  love it.   we had to get a larger one based on the # of full baths and everything else we wanted.    the temp is controlled by a electic thurmastat, with a battery back up, so if we lose power we still get hot water.  :)
Cost estimate rounded up to the nearest hundred

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Clark
1998 TJ Sahara

 



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