Water Heater Leak???

I built a new house almost three years ago with a commercial 100 gallon water heater that supplies hot water and the radiant floor heating system. I noticed some bubbling of the paint on the housing of the water heater about three inches from the top of the tank, running down at a 45 degree angle for about a foot. When I poked the area with a screwdriver, I found that it had rusted all the way through the tank shell. However, I found no sign of water in the drip pan under the tank.

I called A.O.Smith and was told that the warranty covered leaks but if there wasn't any water under the tank then it wasn't leaking. And if I wanted to have the tank inspected, I'd have to pay a tech to come out because the warranty covered labor for only the first year. The rep asked if I had any chemicals stored near the tank (no) and if there was high humidity in the equipment room (also no). I asked if perhaps there might be a pinhole leak that caused the rust but evaporated before reaching the drip pan but he denied this could happen, saying that the insulation would become saturated and eventually water would end up in the pan.

My question: Do I need to be worried about this?

No worry until you see a real sign of a problem. The jacket is separate from the tank, sleep good.

leak

I guess you could say you both are correct. A small leak can rust over before leaking bad enough to show at the bottom of the tank, and it will eventually get to the bottom of the pan when it leaks faster, or more leaks develop, or the tank breaks. I have removed the shell from leaking water heaters and some of them look like they were shot by a "rust machine gun" there were so many "old" leaks in them.

Thanks for the info...

Sounds like my only option is to watch and wait. If Murphy's Law holds, water will show up below the tank about ten minutes after the warranty's expired! Still, it seems weird to have a problem like this with a tank that's less than three years old.

But thanks for the information, guys.

Bob