Hot water tanks blew!

[ourkid2000]

So I'm at work today working in the hellhole of an aircraft when I get the frantic call from my fiancee telling me that the hot water tank burst and water was going everywhere. After calmly guiding her on what to do, we got it under control and with very little damage.

I hurried home and surveyed the damage and am a little curious as to what happened here. I took a few snaps to help illustrate the problems.

These things seem to rot out on the bottom but not this one. You can see the bulge in the side of the tank......if you look closely you can see where the water hit the wall. I'm a little worried about this though, did the pressure relief valve fail or something?

I've also taken some pics of the plumbing which, to my eye at least, looks rather mickey mouse. When I get a new tank, am I going to have a headache with these fittings?

Any help you guys could give me would be great!

Oh and I found out that the breaker for the heater was mislabeled.....I pulled the breaker & then checked the tank with a meter and to my horror I see that it's still a live 240v. Lesson learned!

 

[kf4zht]

Yeah, looks like the pressure valve must have failed, or the wall was really thin in that area. The install doesn't look real professional with the busted out wall, the pipe bent to fit, etc.

I have always used copper with some copper flex at the end. Is that soft tube the new way?

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

I have NO idea what is code in Nova Scotia, but that stuff looks like the old Polybutene (spelling?) pipe, that they used to use in both mobile homes, and sold for regular homes. It definitely had issues (lawsuits in this country) and from the looks of the water heater connection, may be splitting at the water heater itself.

 

[larry_g]

I don't even see a overpressure valve in any of the posted pictures. Also have you checked the water pressure that the house is not being fed overpressure?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[ourkid2000]

Here are some more views, there is a pressure relief valve there.

Make no mistake, I'm pretty sure that the installation was done quite cheaply when the house was built about 15 years ago......I've only been here 2 years now and have to deal with it.

That hot water out hose is not available anymore......probably for the reasons you state. I don't know how that's going to go.

 

[jay50]

get your homeowners insurance to give you some of those $s you've been paying them

 

[ForceFed70]

It looks like the tank came apart at the seam. I highly doubt that the overpressure relief valve failed as when that happens, the tank literally explodes it doesn't just bulge out a little. I think you have a typical failure there, although premature.

The plumbing does look mickey mouse. I would definately clean it up. I hate to see that plastic plumbing stuff bent, when it fails it's always at a bend.

 

[ourkid2000]

The plumbing does look mickey mouse. I would definately clean it up. I hate to see that plastic plumbing stuff bent, when it fails it's always at a bend.

Hmm, well what's the best way to clean it up? Use PEX instead?

I'm not sure how much of that crappy tubing is used throughout the house but I'd bet it's probably mostly like that. It would be a crazy undertaking to replace all that stuff.

 

[BigDawgDavao]

Reminds me of the Mythbusters episode where they purposely closed off the pressure relief valve and bypassed the thermostat. It ended taking off like a rocket and even went through a building with a roof built to code.

 

[KYGTP]

You could always go tankless and get a instant hot water heater. They are a little more up front, but in the end last longer and save money. May want to look into something like that.

Well, let me say, if you have LP or NG available, it will save money, the electric ones take a whole lot of power to operate. Just a thought.

 

[supertooljunkie]

I do not know code in Nova Scotia, but having the pressure relief dump directly onto the floor IS NOT a good thing. Think of the scalding water being spewed into the room if it lets go. That is a cheesy looking install all the way around.

 

[ourkid2000]

I do not know code in Nova Scotia, but having the pressure relief dump directly onto the floor IS NOT a good thing. Think of the scalding water being spewed into the room if it lets go. That is a cheesy looking install all the way around.

I agree about the installation but there is a tube for that valve which I removed today after I emptied the tank and turned off the power

 

[ForceFed70]

Code in BC is that there must be a tube on the end of the pressure relief valve that goes to floor level. You're also supposed to put a small container there to catch any water unless you have a floor drain nearby. The container doesn't help in a full on failure, but the idea is that most times the valve opens, you only dump a bunch of steam and a cup or 2 of water.

To fix the plumbing: I would just try to straighten the lines so that they arn't bent. It's hard to tell from that picture, but it looks like the line is coming out at a 45* angle to the tank. If so, see if you can use a 45* fitting instead of a 90*.

 

[babzog]

Here are some more views, there is a pressure relief valve there.

Make no mistake, I'm pretty sure that the installation was done quite cheaply when the house was built about 15 years ago......I've only been here 2 years now and have to deal with it.

That hot water out hose is not available anymore......probably for the reasons you state. I don't know how that's going to go.

Looks like standard pex tubing that's being used in a lot of new home construction. After seeing my buddy's home piped with pex, I decided to give it a try when I rigged the hard-water bypass for my external hose bibs (so I'm not watering the lawn with softened water). Picked up the pipe, fittings, etc and rented the crimper from HD for a weekend. The install went really well! The stuff is easy as pie to work with - you just bend it around corners or up into the channels between joists. The number of 90's and such that you require is cut dramatically due to its flexibility. You can install this stuff a LOT faster than copper. Just make your cuts nice and square so they seat fully on the fitting and crimp away.

Once finished, I was skeptical at first that the install was kinda "mickey mouse but after two years and no problems, I'm a convert. I'm not saying I'd use it in all cases but I have no qualms about running lengths of pex where required.

The only thing to watch for, is that the pex is sized accoring to the external diameter. The pipe is thicker, meaning, you lose some volume. Not an issue if you use 3/4 for your big runs, but for showers, etc, you might notice some loss of pressure when you drop it down to 1/2" for the final connection.

 

[stevepsd]

My new home in Oregon is plumbed with PEX.

However, by code, PEX tubing is NOT allowed to connect directly to the hot-water heater. You must connect regular copper flex water line from the PEX to the water heater. This is to reduce/eliminate the possible overheating of the PEX tubing by the water heater itself, which could cause the PEX to fail.

 

[Falcon67]

Pic #3 - first set: Looks like Quest that has been adapted to something later model. And from the looks, it's all younger than 15 years. Maybe that tank got dropped or banged before install or something. The crimps look kinda trashy too.

I'd go back and remove that grey to white goober connector and use a real Quest-to-brass adapter, same on the outlet. Then use a gate valve on the cold water side and a couple of standard water heater rated flex hoses to connect the new water heater.

We still have Quest in our house, apparently because it was one of the few done correctly and there was never a qualifying leak. It's not what I'd like, but it all works fine so I try to disturb it as little as possible.

 

[ourkid2000]

Yes, the water tank was replaced back in 2003......I have the receipt from the previous owner. That gray stuff is not available anymore so the connection to the white PEX hose was something he did when he put in the replacement tank. Those crimps are standard PEX copper crimp type fittings and that's normally how PEX is connected.

Thanks for all the help folks! Much appreciated

 

[789wvf]

I've had a couple H/W tanks split to failure like that. It's my belief that what happens is the upper element leaks water inside the insulated shell and it causes alot of corrosion and then the water inside the shell expands from the internal heat and then causes the rupture. Therefore the relief valve can't do anything to help, since that's not where the excessive pressure build-up was. If you look around the element threads, you'll probably find alot of rust.

If it was 7 years old, it was due. I've found that it helps the life of the H/W heater if you shut off the power and the cold supply, drain sediment out of the bottom drain valve every 8 months to a year. If you cut in cold supply in bursts during the draining it helps stir up the trash in the bottom for a better flush.

Just my two cents.

 

[Skin]

take the oppertunity to change it all to copper and clean up that hole in the wall

 

[Cuda]

I'd remove the pressure relief valve and look at the back side of it. I have seen those packed so full of mineral deposits before that they would have never woked. That is why you should manually pop the valve open every 6 months or so to assure it is opening.

 

[burleymike]

What ever you do replace those brass PEX fittings they look a lot like old Zurn fittings. From the looks of them they look like they are corroded, You can Google all about the Zurn lawsuits due to dezincification.

 

[cowboyjosh]

Those are old school fittings, I'd like to see the brand, haven't seen any of those for years. BTW were still using ZURN PEX and fittings.

Allot of local and national builders like myself are fit to be tied because we have had our new home customers who have PEX water pipe, doesn't matter the brand all brands have been targeted, have lawyers send out mass mailing question aires asking if they have had any problems or failures with their PEX pipe in their homes. Same **** the lawyers pulled with CSST gas pipe a couple years ago; they are digging for a handful of failures to turn it into a class action. I almost want to believe its the copper pipe industry and the unions behind the PEX class actions in the US. End of rant.

 

[Mattlt]

Don't rule out water hammer.

Was your local water authority flushing hydrants in the neighborhood that day? If they (or the fire department!) were to close a hydrant too quickly all that pressure has to go somewhere. Not saying that's what happened, but it's certainly possible.

Another thought... Has your water pressure increased lately? A new water tower? Maybe ask your city if they've increased the pressure. When our town's new water tower came online lots of older water heaters went kaput. The line pressure increased by something like 10-15 psi due to the new tower being taller.