Water heater drain broken

[Average Joe]

Mine was leaking as if wide open last night. Tightening it reduced it to a trickle.
This morning is leaking like wide open again.
I bought a cap this morning to minimize the leak for now.

It looks like they sell a replacement at the store but I wonder is this a sign the tank is rusting and replacing it is only a short term bandaid?

ps. after I put the cap on, it looks like the gas heater is not working. I tried restarting it but I didn't hear the heater fire up. I hope the "sensor?!?!" is just underwater if that is why it went out and will fire up when dry.

 

[skeezix]

Do you know how old the tank is? Even in new tanks, the drain is unusually hard to remove. You could try using the correct wrench and progressively hitting the end of it harder and harder a rubber mallet to get it loose.

I would replace it with a 1/4-turn valve...

...and then put the cap on that (I'm a belt-and-suspenders man...).

 

[Average Joe]

It is 4 or 5 years old. I replaced it when the same heater (under warranty) also sprung a leak.
I'm afraid if I replace the shutoff, the real problem is the tank leaking\failing not long after.

The shutoff is one of those plastic ones so I don't see how it went from closed to wide open. It is not like it is the air compressor with 120PSI...

I'll grab one from the HW store and swap it tonight.

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

It is 4 or 5 years old. I replaced it when the same heater (under warranty) also sprung a leak.
I'm afraid if I replace the shutoff, the real problem is the tank leaking\failing not long after.

The shutoff is one of those plastic ones so I don't see how it went from closed to wide open. It is not like it is the air compressor with 120PSI...

I'll grab one from the HW store and swap it tonight.

Depending on if you have a pressure reducing valve (PRV) or not, or if the PRV is allowing too much water pressure, you may have quite high water pressure.