Water Heater

[DTro]

I'm sitting here with a non functional water heater. I need to get this taken care of today and pretty sure I need to buy a new one, but before I do maybe I can fix the thing.

I noticed that yesterday morning the water felt not as warm, then in the evening, I noticed no warm water. I checked the heater and found that the cement was visibly wet and scummy underneath. The pilot light was out, so I relit that. Waited several hours and still no hot water. It doesn't seem to be firing. What would cause it to not heat?

I'm guessing by the moisture there must be a leak, It's about 9 years old.

Suggestions?

[Surface Tension]

A leak or condensation. When the water heating is working condensation isn't a problem because the tank doesn't get cold.

Regardless, unless the water is dripping on the burner, pilot light of thermocouple is should still work.

Might be that just lighting the pilot isn't enough, shut it off then go through the re-light procedure.

From there I'd guess bad/dirty thermocouple, bad t-stat, bad block/valve.

[nubote]

At 9 years old, I would buy a replacement. Even if you can get it to heat for a while,leaking means it's done.

[archerystud]

I just replaced mine. It was still working but I had noticed that it might be leaking a few weeks earlier. In about 2 weeks it was leaking pretty a good.

A co-worker had his just give out and had a huge mess in his basement. So you may just want to up and replace it if it has a chance to wreck any carpet/sheet rock in your house.

[DTro]

I noticed a bunch of oxidation at the bottom of the tank and there was a small amount of puddling (probably more than sweating would cause).

I'm guessing the rust is bad and probably should just replace the thing huh?

[DTro]

OK, I was able to get the thing lit and burner running. I did a drain, refill and recycled the pilot.

Now, the question begs, should I replace it anyways? It appears to me that water dripping might have extinguished the pilot as the burner pilot area looked to be damp. There is approx 1/8" water around the bottom housing/drip pan and the insulation has soaked up some of that.

I think I bought myself some time, but I wonder how much time?

Should I give it a few days and see if I continue to see water? Could there be a massive failure if I wait?

[DTro]

After looking again, it's 11 years old so I think it's time

[Tom7227]

Consider putting a shut off on both the hot and cold lines, and then maybe even using the stainless flexible lines to make the connection to the unit. Makes repair/replacement a whole lot easier.

[BigWadeS]

After looking again, it's 11 years old so I think it's time

I would suggest replacing it, it has run it's course. You can get pretty good deals right now and for the right effiency rating you can file that with your taxes as well.

[DTro]

Thanks guys, spent most of the day yesterday installing a new one.

That's quite a job to do by yourself (at least the hauling and placing of it).

It was a 4 tripper on the Hardware store scale.

[Steve Foss]

It was a 4 tripper on the Hardware store scale.

Been there, made those trips!