Themp
Active Member
I just saw a post from Terry that showed a water hammer arrester on the refrigerator ice make supply line. I then went and Googled how do these work and saw that there is a piston and spring that compresses air in the cylinder. My question is geared to my son's water heater expansion tank of 3 years that failed this week. He admits he did not check the charge yearly. It was completely full of water. And it was a Watts. Installed when the water heater was replaced by the plumbing company he hired.
So, can a water arrester be used as an expansion tank? I remember someone posting that the expansion of water from a 50 gallon water heater was a few cups of water. I know these arresters are small, but they seem to last longer. Or do they fail also and have to be replaced and how would you know if it was behind a wall? I feel water expansion tanks fail to regularly and some kind of piston type device would be much more reliable and last longer. Why do you have to have this huge expansion tank for a few cups of water from thermal expansion? Why cannot the water heater come with one just like the TP valve.
So, can a water arrester be used as an expansion tank? I remember someone posting that the expansion of water from a 50 gallon water heater was a few cups of water. I know these arresters are small, but they seem to last longer. Or do they fail also and have to be replaced and how would you know if it was behind a wall? I feel water expansion tanks fail to regularly and some kind of piston type device would be much more reliable and last longer. Why do you have to have this huge expansion tank for a few cups of water from thermal expansion? Why cannot the water heater come with one just like the TP valve.