Water heater problem

Hello everyone,

We had a water heater develop a hole in the bottom of it. We've got two, so we have hot water and it's not a critial situation. Even though I've got both the "hot" and "cold" valves turned off, though, the tank won't drain and it seems that water is still making it into the tank. I'm afraid that one of the shut off valves is broken and if I remove the tank it will leak.

The water that is draning is cold, so at least I don't think the hot water from the other heater is filling the 2nd one. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do about it (other than drop $150 on a plumber)?

You will need to take it out of the loop so to speak.
Just install a copper flex connector between the supplies for the water heater until you have time to replace the heater.

To remove the heater, you will need to drain it first, there is a hose connection at the bottom.

If it is gas or electric, there is more to it than just that.
But if you are having problems with the water, then consider that you are now working with gas and it's problems, or two hot wires that can zap you pretty good.

Terry said:

You will need to take it out of the loop so to speak.
Just install a copper flex connector between the supplies for the water heater until you have time to replace the heater.

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I should have explained up front. I'm a moron; most of that is over my head.

It's a gas heater, and I've turned off the gas to it, and I've been trying to drain the tank but since more water seems to be getting to it I've not been that successful.

I'm not too worried abou replacing it right now....I'm thinking I'll either ride it out with the one heater and see how that goes, or replace them both with a tankless. What I DON'T want to do is waste a ton of water because the one of the valves seems to be leaking or something. I guess I could shut the water off and remove the tank, and if the valve leaks just shut the water back down and reconnect the tank......

I think what Terry is saying is this:

Your water heater has two water pipes going into it. One to bring cold water in, and one to bring the hot water out. I think he wants you to get a piece of flexible pipe and connect both of those water lines to each other with it, so that they're no longer connected to your leaky tank. That way no water can get into it from either pipe.

how much HW do you use...the amount you use will be one of the determining factors whether or not a tank less is warranted in your situation.

If you're concerned about "dropping $150 on a plumber," then you should run as fast as possible from the idea of a tankless. There has been numerous discussions on this subject on this forum and you can search the archives for them. There are many negative aspects to the tankless heaters, but the gist of it is they are very expensive to install, operate, and maintain. They are more expensive than conventional heater in the long run and frequently do not provide the amount of hot water needed.

Cass said:

how much HW do you use...the amount you use will be one of the determining factors whether or not a tank less is warranted in your situation.

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We have a large garden tub, which is why I think they installed two heaters with the house, but we rarely use it so I'm thinking we may try it with one heater for a while and see how it goes.

Gary Swart said:

If you're concerned about "dropping $150 on a plumber," then you should run as fast as possible from the idea of a tankless. There has been numerous discussions on this subject on this forum and you can search the archives for them. There are many negative aspects to the tankless heaters, but the gist of it is they are very expensive to install, operate, and maintain. They are more expensive than conventional heater in the long run and frequently do not provide the amount of hot water needed.

Click to expand...

I know the tankless are considerably more expensive up front, but I had always heard they are much cheaper in the long run. Guess I need to do some research.

cdwz said:

I think what Terry is saying is this:

Your water heater has two water pipes going into it. One to bring cold water in, and one to bring the hot water out. I think he wants you to get a piece of flexible pipe and connect both of those water lines to each other with it, so that they're no longer connected to your leaky tank. That way no water can get into it from either pipe.

Click to expand...

How is that done? The pipes going into the heater have the threaded adapters that screw into the heater. Could I flexible pipe that has the scres on the end that I could screw right into the existing pipes, or would I have to cut the adapters off? I've never worked with copper before and that would probably be more than I'd want to tackle by myself.