SIZZLE SIZZLE POP! Water Heater May Need To Go..............

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SFLman

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This water heater is very old and electric. I woke up this morning and smelled something kind of like gas in the house. I thought "Someone has mowed my yard?" That would have been great.

IMG_20230207_172300160.jpg IMG_20230207_191248322.jpg IMG_20230208_003357988.jpg

This happened some time between 3:00 AM and 11:00 AM.

I did some work on this water heater 8 months ago. I installed a new thermostat in the middle of May.

At HD I purchased both a 662766525014 THERMOSTAT $16.27 (UPPER ELEMENT) and a
662766525007 THERMOSTAT 10.97 (LOWER ELEMENT)

I can't remember if I returned lower element as not needed or installed it just because. I remember that it was the upper element was dead and I used my multimeter to determine that the old one was dead, and that the new one was operating as expected. I found the perfect video on Youtube. Don't know if I could track it down now.

When I saw the damage this morning I jumped to the conclusion that there had been a straight up fire. That may be but in the past few hours I don't think that. Who knows, maybe it all happened in a flash and the soot is from a major spark.

RUUD makes it very difficult to find prices, even to the point of not putting the model numbers on their product page OR their prices. They want to you talk to a contractor. But this is a RHEEM 38 gal tank for $540.

Bob Vila wrote that paying a contractor to install a replacement should cost around $1,500. I live in South FL and all of the contractors are desperate for $$$. Rents are outrageous.

The blue tape was put on the water heater to help with tiny leak at the top many months ago. One drop of water would slide down the side every half and hour or so. As the months went by, I guess some sediment plugged the leak and so it stopped. I just left the blue tape on the heater. I had a container below the tape for the drip.

Here are some pics from the installation this past May.

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After finding the damage, which I tracked down this morning by the charred smell, there was a sound of running water coming from the unit. On the web it said that if there is a running noise sound your tank has a leak. I jumped up and ran to the old RUDD and cranked the Wolverine valve handle to stop that noise. I don't see any leak but I suppose there could be a leak behind one of the walls or in the floor.

The sound was not faint so if there has been a leak it is going to be a huge mess!! I uploaded a video where you can hear the sound on Youtube.

The breaker on the panel did flip to the off position. I suppose old hoss is shot. I'm not scared of a few cold showers, so I'm going to take some time gathering info before making a move.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 

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Looks like it is time for a new water heater. It looks like you are all copper and soldered right up to the tank. I would look at the Sharkbite flexable tank connectors for the last bit. Makes it a much simpler DIY job and down the road the next tank swap will only take 15 minutes.
 
Did anyone listen to the running water? I am wondering if anyone has a best guess on whether or not it is the sound of a leak.

I'm considering putting the water heater myself.................

I'm two days with cold showers. It isn't so bad.

I'm fairly sure my dishwasher (Bosch) will work without hot water. I might as well call the company and ask about this.
 
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