Water heater goes south, 6 years old

[cmac2012]

I put in a gas Bradford and White 40 gallon yesterday, replacing a Rheem with a manufacture date of early 2012. Can't recall seeing one with a major leak at 6 years before. It didn't look old and rusting like the ones that I've normally seen at 10-12 years, with a good bit of rust visible. But there was clearly some major internal leaking.

My client found her receipt, not sure if this was standard or extra warranty but it was good for 6 years, and that expired in June of this year.

Oh well.

 

[Jamesplumbing06]

Yeah check pressure and expansion. She may be buying another one In 6 years. Those are both made by the same tank company in Kingston Tn. Different skins and stickers but same tank. Good luck. Yes they are made to last 6 years. Unless you add an extra anode rod and die electric unions. But must also have max 80psi. And expansion within 3’ developed length away at 78 psi. It will last 15-20 years then.

 

[cmac2012]

I was telling her that I doubted that B&W in spite of their much vaunted rep was going to much more than 1% better overall if that. Rheems are not junk.

Good call on the expansion tank, would be a good safeguard here. Not sure where the dielectric unions would go. The previous guy put in stainless steel flex lines for cold and hot inlet/outlet

 

[Jamesplumbing06]

Dielectric unions are mostly for copper install. They break the reaction of copper and steel. Put on hot and cold nipples on heater. I agree Rheem is not junk. But they made in Kingston too. Along with whirlpool. State stove is in Ashland city Tn. They make state, a o smith Rudd , and I think they make the tank for lochinvar.
Noritz makes 5-6 different brands. Bosch and Maytag I think are 2 of them.
Now get to the corporate side. They have minimums to meet on safety and function. I assume they give us the consumer that minimum and only that minimum. So choose either Pittsburg steel. Chicago steel and Atlanta. Or China. But bottom line is they don’t actually make better heaters. They make better commercials and marketing.

 

[voletl]

All waterheaters come with dielectric nipples installed from factory.... no need for the unions.

 

[Jamesplumbing06]

Yeah I forgot the newer ones in last 10-15 years all come with the nipples. No need for dielectric unions. My bad.

 

[cmac2012]

All waterheaters come with dielectric nipples installed from factory.... no need for the unions.

I'm still in the dark here I hate to admit. I've used dielectric unions many times, I've read that a length of brass pipe can serve as a union between galvy and copper but my gut tells me the dielectric unions would be more effective and they cost a good bit less to boot.

But the top nipples on water heaters look to be galvy. And we know the tanks are steel. Are the nipples made of galvanized but separated from the tank with an insulting material as in the dielectric unions?

The house in question has galvy in most places, the lines in the water heater closet are. The previous guy installed SS flex water lines but I get that dissimilar metals are, well. dissimilar. But I just consulted this galvanic table and SS is all over the place. I knew there were different types, didn't know there were that many:

http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Definitions/galvanic-series.htm

 

[voletl]

Water heater nipples are made out of galvanized steel with either a plastic insert or dielectric inserts. Dielectric corrosion can only occur between the two pipes when water is present these Linings in the nipples create that protection. You can hook up any approved piping for water distribution to the water heater and you should not have any corrosion if you do you have a leak or you have some funky water that you shouldn't be drinking

 

[cmac2012]

Ah, that makes sense. I know the plastic nipple inserts you refer to, at first I was thinking that if the galvanized threads are in contact with copper you'd still have a problem but if the nipples are in place, the point where the water is moving would be insulated.

Odd bit of trivia on that, in my carpentry work I like having 6 inch drill bits handy. I hate trying to bury 4" #10 drywall screws (you never use 4 inchers for drywall, 'bugle head' might be a better designation) into semi hard woods, such as old doug fir without a pilot hole. Bungs up the head and sometimes you get stuck an inch out and the philips head won't move it either way. Oops. And a regular bit won't give you a 4" pilot hole. I don't frequently use 4 inchers but sometimes they are useful.

Long story short (too late for that) I buy them in bulk, 7/64 up to 3/16 and wanted an easy way to quickly find them in my drill box. I got a piece of 3/4 copper, soldered a cap on one end, a male thread nipple on the other end, and a threaded cap so as to have a container, for protecting the sharp flutes as well as having them readily findable.

But whoops, I open it up after a few days and the bits were corroded - ruined. I'm guessing water vapor alone is enough to do it. So much for that idea. I could have made one out of PVC but never did I'm a bit embarrassed to admit.