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Nat Gas Water Heater Question

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stsmike

Active member
Joined
Feb 20, 2013
Messages
35
Location
Orem Ut.
I got a call from my elderly aunt that her pilot on her natural gas water heater went out. I asked if there was a service interruption or strong windstorm lately. She said no, so I re-lit the pilot and it stayed lit for a few hours. I got a call that it went back out later that day.

I decided to just replace the thermocouple, as the unit is about 7 years old. Apparently this version of a Whirlpool HW heater has a thermocouple with LEFT HAND THREADS. None of the local plumbing places had ever seen one, so I called the technical hotline. I was told that they would send out a complete burner assembly with an updated thermocouple and adapter. They shipped it out, overnight delivery, for no cost. (This WH was made by American Water Heater in TN I believe)

When I removed the old assembly, I noticed the burner was "rusty".... Just a fine surface rust, not scaly. I thought that it was unusual, but thought it might have been due to condensation on metal that has lost its corrosion protection due to lots of heat cycles and direct flame.

When I installed the new burner assembly, I noticed something unusual. As few minutes after the main burner came on, I could hear what sounded like drops of water hitting the burner and "sizzling". :dunno:

This could be the cause of the rust on the old burner assembly. There is no sign of water or moisture around or under the WH. None of the fittings on top are leaking or sweating. Does this sound like a seam on the tank body sweating due to heat?

What are your thoughts? The water heater has a 12 year warranty, so it is still covered.

Thanks, Mike
 
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S

stsmike

Active member
Joined
Feb 20, 2013
Messages
35
Location
Orem Ut.
Thanks for the replies. I did not think about condensation, as living in Utah we have a really low humidity level.

I won't worry about it too much then.

Mike
 
M

mooman

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Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
2,791
Location
CHICAGO, IL
The cold water inside of the tank causes condensation on the bottom of the tank once it starts heating up.
I would say this is normal. Did it stop once the water came up to temperature?
 
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mygarageone

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Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
2,691
Location
Munising , Mich
The Cobbler said:
I would keep an eye on it. sounds like the tank might be leaking .
I am not convinced it's condensation with the water in the tank at presumably room temperature.
Click to expand...

If it was a leaky tank he would have seen water long before he replaced the burner. It's condensation , that I am sure of.
 
J

jvitez

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
2,429
Location
Big Sky Country, Canada
mygarageone said:
If it was a leaky tank he would have seen water long before he replaced the burner. It's condensation , that I am sure of.
Click to expand...

+1.

If her old burner was rusted the tank might be too small for her needs. If she regularly draws enough water to cool off the water temp in the tank, the flue gets cooled off also, so water vapour from the burning NG condenses on the inside of the flue and drops onto the burner causing a sizzling sound, kind of like bacon frying.

Either she needs a larger tank, as a storage type water heater will allow a draw of about 70% of its volume before the water temp starts to dramatically drop, and/or a larger btu input burner to heat up the water faster so the flue stays cold much less of the time, or increase the thermostat temp which will increase standby heat loss and risk of burns, but will allow a small tank to behave like a larger one.

Eg: lets say she has a 40 gal 36,000 btu/hr input water heater. This will provide 40 gal x 70%= 28 gals of hot water before quickly cooling off. So she has the dishwasher going, just did a load of laundry, and then fills the tub for a bath: ****, cold tank.
 
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