Water Heater Leaking/Over-Pressuring

[asinning]

I'm wondering if the 12 year guaranteed GE water heater that I installed 5 years ago is going out. We live in an old house in Minneapolis where we don't have too bad a problem with water salts. I don't have a softener.

Anyway, the leak is at the top of the water heater. I can't tell where, because you can't actually see the water leaking out, but you can see a puddle in each of the three places where there are tubes attached to the top of the tank: at the cold-in, the hot-out, and the presure-release-thingy. The water is all rusty. I'm wondering if it's just the presure-valve-thingy.

Any thoughts?

I'll post a follow-up when I know more.

Thanks for hosting this forum!

Andrew

[master plumber mark]

if you dont see a spot where it is leaking,

it is most likely the tank itself going bad...

youi will have to call GE to see how they handle it

[toolaholic]

the threaded nipples arn,t sealed properly. before you buy a new heater re seal these nipples

[asinning]

if you dont see a spot where it is leaking,

it is most likely the tank itself going bad...

But the water is collecting at the top of the water heater, above the tank. Please explain how this can be.

[asinning]

the threaded nipples arn,t sealed properly. before you buy a new heater re seal these nipples

Thanks. I'll soak up all the water in each of the three spots where it is collecting and see which one fills up first. Should have thought of this earlier.

Thanks!

[master plumber mark]

you can try the nipples on the top of the heater

simply dry them off with a towell...then with a flash light

keep a sharp eye on them....either its going to be obvious that its one
of them or its gonna be oozeing up from around the tank from one of the
welds........


we see a lot of heaters gurgling water from the top because their are
many welds on the top of the heater that can leak...

hot and cold inlets are welded to the atnk, the chimmney is welded
to the tank, and that t+p valve has a weld there too...


The reason that the water simply cant flow down through the heater
is because of all the styrofoam insualtion that they have filled the cavity
up with......

so it basically comes out the top


so if you cant actually SEE a leak,
and you dry off those fittings and it
appears to be a 50-50 chance its comming from the nipples
then its your gamble wether to spend some time fooling with it.
or not ..

and sometimes , it can be pretty difficult to
determine what it is leaking from.....



the odds are its the heater, but I can be wrong....




either way, have fun...

[asinning]

we see a lot of heaters gurgling water from the top because their are
many welds on the top of the heater that can leak...
hot and cold inlets are welded to the atnk, the chimmney is welded
to the tank, and that t+p valve has a weld there too...
The reason that the water simply cant flow down through the heater
is because of all the styrofoam insualtion that they have filled the cavity
up with......

Thanks for the lesson, Mark! I'm sure you are right. There's no sign that the water is coming from one of the nipples. Almost seems to be coming from the chimney, which I thought was kinda strange until I read what you've written. Thanks!

I guess I gotta call GE now. Thanks!