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Water heater repair

michaelrr1

michaelrr1

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2006
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I need expert plumbing advice. Naturally, I came to CF.

I have a water heater that is almost 6 years old. Previous one was the original from when the house was constructed and lasted about 30 years. This weekend the connection with the cold water intake pipe to the water heater nipple/dip tube (I'm no plumber...I've done research since this happened) came apart due to corrosion. My owner's manual and the product website has these replacement parts. I've seen the DYI videos showing these can be replaced. But the company I use and that installed the water heater has a policy to not do this repair work and will require me to purchase a new water heater for them to install. Their policy is due to past issues they have when the replacement caused other damage to the water heater that led to leaking and basement damages within a few days.

So is it common for this repair work to damage the water heater? Am I better off having someone else replace the parts? The owner of my company admitted he's gun shy after past experiences and won't risk it again.

I may be covered by warranty (everything I see on exclusions has me believing this) but he is going to check with their representative tomorrow when warranty guy is back at work. In case not, I'd like to figure out how I should proceed. TIA
 
Are you renting this water heater? Why can you not perform maintenance? I understand voiding the company warranty by doing your own repairs, but how do they have a say in requiring you to buy a new heater?
 
Sounds like they may not have used
fittings that were compatible that caused the corrosion.
 
GoldCy said:
Sounds like they may not have used
fittings that were compatible that caused the corrosion.
Click to expand...

They typically come with heat trap nipples that are compatible…. Guessing you would just have to buy a new nipple and connect it in. It’s not tough if you know what you’re doing but if this piping has shown wear then you may have issues further upstream too which would make repair touch (and might be why they won’t just fix the leak?). Can you throw a couple pictures on here?

Something to consider as well is that 6 years isn’t bad for a water heater. It’s not great but I think if you get 10 out of one anymore you’re probably doing good. Is fixing just the piping now worth it if you have to turn around and replace the water heater in a couple?
 
Cycl1 said:
Are you renting this water heater? Why can you not perform maintenance? I understand voiding the company warranty by doing your own repairs, but how do they have a say in requiring you to buy a new heater?
Click to expand...
Yeah, if they won't warrantee the repair, just do the repair on your own. If you screw it up, big deal, have them replace the whole unit. I might go with someone else for that though if it comes down to it, seems kinda shady to have a company refuse to do a simple (likely much cheaper) repair rather than requiring the entire unit be replaced.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: NWICY
clone4life82 said:
... nipples… ...nipple.... Can you throw a couple pictures on here?
Click to expand...
I'm not a plumber, but I've "sweated some pipe" in my day. (If you are using PEX, I got nothing)
Agreed. photos would help provide advice/diagnosis.
 
Cycl1 said:
Are you renting this water heater? Why can you not perform maintenance? I understand voiding the company warranty by doing your own repairs, but how do they have a say in requiring you to buy a new heater?
Click to expand...
Not renting. The company won't do this kind of repair and said the only thing they can do for it is to replace with a new heater. I'm just trying to find out if this type of repair truly is risky in causing other damage.
 
  • Dumb
Reactions: clonebb
Go ahead and fix it. You can always replace it later, all you are out is a bit of money on parts, and some of your time. I believe in ya.

I think your contractor mostly doesn't want to have you spend money on something he could be back repairing in a few months when a more bulletproof solution is for you to just spend what it takes on a replacement, but it isn't his wallet.

Unless they are prepared to replace it totally, I don't know what having the warranty guy get involved will do. They are pretty much telling you already they don't back up their work.
 
They’re problematic. Limp along as long as possible and then get a new one. Not sure how a repair will work out.
 
I'd try to fix it myself if it was me. If you go the replacement route I would strongly recommend a different company if they dont warranty it. Heck if you don't want to do the repair a good common handyman should be able to fix that easily for you.
 
No way that should look like that after only 6 years of use - something's up and should be covered by warranty I'd think.

For reference, here's what mine looks like at 2 weeks shy of 6 years (replacement unit):
PhotoPictureResizer_20230102_204724_copy_701x935.jpg
 
Cycl1 said:
Are you renting this water heater? Why can you not perform maintenance? I understand voiding the company warranty by doing your own repairs, but how do they have a say in requiring you to buy a new heater?
Click to expand...
Looks like gallvantic corrosion to me. Occurs when an electric current passes through two dissimilar metals.

Need a deltaic union to separate dissimilar metals.
 
  • Winner
  • Agree
Reactions: clone4life82 and Die4Cy
Althetuna said:
Looks like gallvantic corrosion to me. Occurs when an electric current passes through two dissimilar metals.

Need a deltaic union to separate dissimilar metals.
Click to expand...

Damn this man knows his water heaters.
 
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