HELP! Gas Water Heater Leaking!

OKay, this an urgent one. The gas water heater in the hallway is leaking from a pipe on top. It looks like a copper corregated 3/4 or 1 inch thing that is coming out from the top of the water heater. It is hot! And is goes down a pipe that disappears under the cabinet that it sits in.

Two days until payday! We, the three girls at home, quickly wrapped it with mini pads and duct tape. We want to know if we can turn a the water heater off, so we can replace the "bendy" pipe. The leak seems to have come from a hole in the pipe near where it joins with the long pipe. Probably corroded like almost all fixtures become in this house.

It looks as if we could just take off both ends of the pipe and put a new one. We will check our diy books, but you guys seems to give the best advise.

nursedoe

It sounds like you're talking about a hot water tank flex connector? Available just about anywhere... The answer to your questions is "Yes", and "Yes".

Turn off the hot water tank, then turn off the water supply to the tank.

If you want to avoid making a mess, drain the water out of the line before you remove the old connector.

Take out the old, install the new.

Water supply back on, purge air our of the lines, turn the tank back on.

Just a bit of an addition to Frenchie's reply. If the heater was installed properly, there should be a valve in the water line after it branches off of the main cold water supply line. That's all you have to turn off. If there is not such a valve, then you will have to shut the water off where it comes into the house. Once you have the water supply off, to drain the line, just turn on a hot water faucet and open the drain cock on the base of the tank. This will allow the tank and the pipe to drain down. Don't drain the tank, just a gallon or two will be plenty. When putting the new flex pipe on, avoid making sharp bends. From your description, that's what caused the leak. Any problems, give us a shout.

Thanks for the help!

Well we got the old pipe off and the new one on, but it looks like all the pipes are pretty corroded. But it will work for the next 2 weeks until we get to the next project- gutting bathroom #3 down to the studs, to get rid of mold and install all new walls, floors, shower, tile, fixtures but most importantly a fan for ventilation. I guess they did not do that in the 50's. We are confident this project will go faster than my bathroom remodel did because we now have some skills we did not have before.

Now, the sad part about the leak is that the hallway "closets" the water heater and house heater (gas) sit in are now completely mush. The builders used plywood for the closets and flooring that is now black and warped. More mold problems. It looks like we will have to tear them out completely and rebuild. Those heaters are heavy! I can't imagine how we are going to move all of that stuff. We have decided to put in a tankless water heater to save space. We are hopeful that we can use the same gas lines and venting etc.

You'll want to do some research on that. Can I recommend Terry Love's as a good place to start? Do a search, there's been a lot of discussion on these.

Key issues:

- incoming water temperature: the colder the water coming in is, the more you need to heat it. Sounds trivial, but for us northerners it can make/break the deal.

- figure out how much flow you will need at peak demand times.

- look at the graph curve, flow vs. temperature rise, for various models. A lot of tankless models, are fine if there's just one shower going; but then someone turns on the dishwasher... and everyone has tepid. Don't listen to sales pitches, find & compare the actual graphs.

- depending on those factors, you may find that you need more gas than the current setup provides, or that you're okay.

Bear in mind that they're a bit fussier than a tank; you need to maintain them if you want good performance. And they don't last quite as long as a tank.

I am with Grumpy on this one.

I recommend you have a licensed professional size and install this for you.

It will be in your best interest, for safety reasons, to do so.

NurseDoe, call a plumber or you might be needing a Doctor.

I suggest you get a second opinion on the wisdom of a tankless water heater. Their hype sounds like they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, but there are serious drawbacks to them.

What are the drawbacks with tankless?
I've heard if you need to fill a huge tub, they won't do...but that is about the only negative aspect I've heard....

open a new thread on this, after you read up on it. Several threads here have explored this.

david

I just did a search on "Tankless" on the link bar above. The are 175 posts relating to the topic. Not all of them will provide information or opinions about them, but many will. These units are very expensive to install, so I would urge anyone thinking about them to study the issue carefully before making the leap.

Gary Swart said:

I just did a search on "Tankless" on the link bar above. The are 175 posts relating to the topic. Not all of them will provide information or opinions about them, but many will. These units are very expensive to install, so I would urge anyone thinking about them to study the issue carefully before making the leap.

Click to expand...

Expensive is an understatement!
A regular 50 gal tank type is generally good for a 2 bath home...as long as someone isn't an obsessive shower freak.
The most viable replacement for something that size would be generally 6.5 to 7 gpm. You're looking at paying as much as 2-3 times what it would cost for a regular tank type.(but then it has almost double the life expectancy)

- Drawbacks...SOME models only heat to 120, other models take as much as a minute longer for the hot water to kick on...all of them only kick on when there's at least about a half GPM flow rate (gallon per minute)...which means you won't get hot water if it's a trickle. (though thats a benefit in the event of leaky faucets..fixtures) ALSO...mindful...IF you install one thats less than a "whole home" unit, they aren't very good keeping up with high flow rates...one example was a roman tub spout a customer had with a 4+ gpm unit...the hot water flow slowed down so the heater could keep up with the volume...took longer to fill the tub. (customer regretted saving $300, but it was his choice)

-Benefits...Never run out of hot water...regardless how many showers are taken or tubs are filled...it just keeps heating more water. (makes mother in laws less irritable on those special occasions)
Standard tank heaters run at about 62% efficient ALL the time.
Tankless run at 80-85% efficient ONLY when running hot water...when you're on vacation, sleeping at 3:am, or at work, there's no gas being used.
The manufacturers openly state you'll save at least 50% on your gas bill.
Lets say you pay $15-$20 a month to heat a 50 gal tank type...that equates to roughly $100 per year, add in the fact that most tankless heaters have a minimum 10 year warranty...multiply it by 10....this math can vary wildly, depending on use.
There are also credits available from some gas companies...in my area they offer a $300 rebate which tips the scales for many homeowners.
Then there's a federal tax credit of $150, if I recall.
There are other arguments for, and against tankless heaters...such as rumors that they suffer in hard water conditions or they heat irratically..I have personally found big differences from one model to the next.
There's no easy way around this, if you're interested in one...you'll have to do some homework, along with your plumber.