New water heater - water in electrical compartment
 

I know most people on this forum are mechanically inclined, so I figured I'd take a shot with this question here before joining a home improvement forum.

Last month I replaced a 20 year old water heater that was in my house when I bought it. It's under the house, one of those 38 gallon "lowboy" varieties, and it's sitting on a concrete platform.

It's working fine but I noticed upon install that the original wiring was kinda shoddy so yesterday I was going to run new wire from the breaker to the water heater. Low and behold, when I open the electrical compartment on top of the WH, it's full of rusty water. How it didn't catch fire already is beyond reckoning...

I can't find any leaks in the water lines so I'm not sure where it's coming from. I'm pretty sure it's not seeping up from inside the tank due to it being rusty water and the tank is brand new. My neighbor thinks it's condensation since I've got the included insulation blanket wrapped around the WH, but again why would it be rusty?

Has anyone ever seen this before? I soaked up all the rusty water from the compartment, I'm going to check it again in a few days to see if it has returned.

lectricity and rusty wadder don't play well together.
I suggest you drain the wadder in the electrical box and add antifreeze so it don't turn rusty again.
Now be careful that you use green antifreeze, non of that pinko stuff
like death ah kool.

Don't worry if an occasional drip of wadder occurs from the bulb when you switch the
bat-room light on, it is jus condensation from a previous hot bath.
FWIW:
Do turn the kurrant at the main fuzz box off, before adding green coolant.

Sometimes those modi kules in da koolant get confused with all of those pluses and minuses arguing like congress in a debt limit debate
.
Now once the lecric' cover is securely replaced, it is ok to turn the power back on as the hydrogen gas produced will calm those gubbermint fellers down quickly. :beerchug:

Oh as a side note, me thinks yall got leaky/defective new wadder tank.
Assuming it is an electric heater it's possible one of the heating elements missed being properly tightened at the factory, allowing leakage.
or one of your water line connections is leaking.
is the tank insulation wet?
Do keep a close watch on it that is not safe as you know, and do turn the breaker OFF before even getting close to it, you are talking 220 volts, it can be fatal, not just a shock!!! :bigeyes:

Yes this is an electric water heater. I'm referring to the part where the wires connect at the top, not the side panels where the elements are.

The insulation blanket is not wet, so I'm wondering if the water got in there before I put the blanket on (I used it for a week before adding the blanket to make sure it all worked).

Shoot us some pictures.

Ok so my wife just took a long hot shower then I went out and checked the water heater. There is visible water underneath the top insulation blanket but no leaks on the plumbing. Maybe it is condensation?

I removed the top blanket entirely and will check again to see if it see any more water buildup...

Never seen braided metal used on a water heater like that. We use pex pvc to plumb into water heaters in my neck of the woods. It is more than likely condensation, but if you have over tightened your braided pipes, then the seals may have been compromised, resulting in a small leak. You can purchase some pipe insulation (foam wraps) to put around your pipes to prevent condensation, if that is the case. They are black and have an adhesive strip built into them to seal them up if you want, but I would leave them unsealed at first so that you could easily remove them and check to see if that remedied your problem. If it is the seals, then you will need to purchase other pipes. Pex pipe is easily installed and faster. It used to be called quest pex. The tool to install it is only around $60, too.

Cub Cadet 123

Take the complete top blanket cover off, obviously you have a leak, I doubt that much water is from condensation.
Have he newly clean wifey, try shutting the water of/on quickly to get a pressure bump, might be a situation where a surge will leak, but not a normal on/off situation, just a guess.
Luck!

These hoses were in the water heater section at the same store I got the WH. They have built in shutoff valves and just clip right onto existing copper pipes with a "shark bite" connection.

I'll go outside and check it again later while my son takes a shower and see if I notice any leaks...

The mice like pex too. I would go coppa.

Ok I just checked it multiple times while running the dishwasher (which uses only hot water) and I don't see any leaks or water pooling on the top since I removed the top blanket. I'll check it again while my son is showing later but I suspect it was just condensation caused by the blanket?

If there isn't any more water later I guess I'll just remove the blanket entirely since we don't get cold winters here anymore - yay climate change!

Condensation comes from water vapor changing back to a liquid, so how did the "water vapor" get under the blankie in the first place if you don't have a leak?---- would be my question :bigthink:

Forget watching when running dishwasher... do it while the wife is taking her usual long hot shower. Dishwasher uses a lot less hot water than your wife.:biggrin2: I suspect a pinhole leak opens up on outlet line from the heat..and I'm not sure if the braided lines (or pex) are a good idea that close to hot water heater!

Forgot to post last night but I checked it while son was in the shower and didn't see anything leaking. And no more water on top of the WH eater. I'll take a look at it again after it gets light outside and see if anything accumulated overnight.

I couldn't wait until daylight I just grabbed my flashlight and went and checked and not a single drop of water on top from sitting overnight. In fact, no water period since I removed the insulation blanket.

These braided lines were labelled for water heater and just clipped right into my existing copper, so I guess they are safe for the heat. They are really thick and feel like they have some insulation built in.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBit...bvlf/202685676

I’ve has those on mine for a couple of years now.

I think I figured out the problem. The pressure relief valve is right on top of the tank and I added a drain line to it the same time I removed the blanket. I checked and water is ever so slightly dripping from that drain.

I bet the water was dripping from that valve and pooling on top of the WH but now that I've got a drain pipe it's routing elsewhere. Now to figure out why that valve is leaking. My city code only requires a pressure overflow tank if the pressure is over 80 PSI. I'm pretty sure the PSI isn't over 80 in my neighborhood and I didn't have an overflow on my old tank. So it's either a faulty TPR valve or it's got some dirty or something in it and not closing...

REPLACE.........The Pressure Relief Valve.

Do you have an expansion tank? I had to add one when we moved into our new house years ago. It was doing the same thing you are describing. My issue was, we have a check valve at our water meter.

There will be people that will say I am wrong and this is not the problem. This was my problem and a expansion tank fixed the weeping for me.

I was going to pickup a water pressure gauge to see if it is indeed over 80 PSI and if so I'll install an overflow tank.

But TPR valves are supposed to trip at 150PSI, not 80, so I will probably end up replacing it. I wonder if it covered under warranty? I mean it's not even 2 months old yet...

Easy, contact the Selling Dealer or OEM.

Try pulling the check/release lever on the pressure release valve a couple of times.
Sometimes, foreign chit gets under the seat just like what happens with a carburetor of an engine.
Do be advised the wadder comes out of the drain line quickly, like a cow pissin' on a flat rock.:biggrin2:

I was thinking the same thing George, I went yesterday and flipped it back and forth a few times. I put a bucket under the drain and checked it today and didn't see any water. Hopefully that's all it was!

What is the temperature set to?

I haven't touched the temp settings so it's the factory 120F. I checked the water coming out of the faucet and it's around 110F so I guess that's right. The TPR valve is supposed to trip at 150PSI or 210F.

Ok I got my hands on a pressure gauge. Connected to my outside spigot, it jumped up to 120PSI when I first turned it on then dropped to 70PSI and stayed there. I'm begining to think this TPR valve is indeed defective...

Normal residential pressure is 40-60 PSIG.

The just replaced all the water and sewer lines in my neighborhood and I've noticed the pressure has felt higher than before, maybe that's why it's 70PSI. But the city code says a pressure overflow tank is only need if it exceeds 80PSI.

Regardless, the TPR valve is only supposed to open if it exceeds 150PSI so something is definitely wrong...

Do you have a regulator? I had to add a regulator also. Mine would leak after someone took a shower, while it was heating the water back up.

After leaving the pressure gauge on the spigot for a few hours I'm seeing the pressure is all over the place. As high as 160PSI and as low as 60PSI. I called the water company and they just said any pressure adjustments are customer side, so I guess I'm getting a pressure regulator. Those come preset for 40PSI...

Yes, sounds like you need a PRV and I bet they put a check valve at the street so you probably need a expansion tank too.

These people are pretty good to deal with.

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Pressure...alves-17082000

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Expansion-Tanks-14860000

Yeah it's looking like I'll hafta order online as most of the stores around here only carry 3/4" PRV and my lines are 1/2". I was hoping to get away without an expansion tank due to costs, I guess I'll see how it goes after installing the PRV I can always add one later if the pressure is still an issue.

Either way this will be waaaaay cheaper than the estimates I got for replacing the water heater via a plumber. They all wanted $2K+ and so far I'm only $550 into it...

Slight update - the main line coming from the street is 1/2" PVC but all the PRVs I can find are "sharkbite" which is CPVC/copper/PEX. CPVC and PVC are NOT the same diameter so they aren't interchangable. After talking with the plumbing guy at Home Depot (who actually ended up being an old high school friend I'd lost touch with), I'm using a sharkbite adapter from 1/2" PVC to 1/2" PEX then using a 1/2" PRV, then back to 1/2" PVC using the adapter again. The internal diameter between PVC and PEX isn't too much of a difference so hopefully it affect the pressure too much.

It's gonna look funky as hell but it should fix all my problems (hopefully)...