leaking water heater

[magnawake]

I just found my hot water heater leaking. I wish I knew an easy fix. Why would it start leaking there, by the pipe? There's a valve with a hand wheel below it. I guess it's there to drain it or something. The pipe is above it and goes nowhere. It's leaking around the little nipple. Hope I explained it OK.

 

[magnawake]

I'm all ears....Any ideas? I'd hate to buy a new one just because of a little drip. I bet they are real expensive too. How long do these water heaters last? Thanks for the input

 

[Avenger]

Just guessing here because I'm not familiar with that particular water heater, but here goes;

You're correct, the one with the valve is a drain. The nipples look like they're for a heat-exchanger. The critical question is exactly where is it leaking? If it's leaking where the fitting threads into the unit you can probably reseal it or replace the fitting if necessary. If it's leaking out of the inside of the nipple itself it could mean the nipple is faulty, or more likely the heat-exchanger coil is NG. Since you're obviously not using it I would plug both nipples and just let it fill up with water. Maybe put a drain on the lower one for winterizing if you feel the need. That's ASSUMING that it actually is the coil that's leaking.

Hope this helps.

 

[magnawake]

It's leaking on the outside of the heat exchanger nipple. I dont see any threads. It looks like a welded type nipple. I wish I could just JB weld it. It looks like its been leaking for a while, however, I just bought a water filter for the dockside city water. I bet the minerals were clogging the crack up and now the filter is removing the clogging agents, thus letting it leak more. Just guessing you know.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Call the company who built it and find out if the heat exchanger nipple is threaded in. If it is, as he said, you may be able to replace or reseal it. Also, as he said, if the water is coming from inside the nipple, then there is a hole in the heat exchanger coil. These are not generally replaceable, as far as I know, so you would need a new water heater.

You can buy fancy water heaters, but I have a Seaward that I got from Defender years ago, which still works fine, and is on its original heating element. I'm not sure I would buy anything more expensive than that, although I look at SuperStors and IsoTemps and think they are very well-designed.

Incidentally, once you fix the problem, you might think about hooking up the heat exchanger coil. Why more powerboats don't do this I have no idea. For essentially no cost after the hookup is done, you have hot water on the boat (VERY hot water!!!) any time the engines are running and warmed up. Typically only one engine is used, unless you have more than one hot water heater. Since the water is heated to engine coolant temp, a little bit of water that hot goes a long way. And you don't have to run the genset to have it. Trawlers and sailors usually have this, and I copied my installation from them. Works great.

 

[Avenger]

The picture isn't really clear enough for me to say, but that nipple looks like aluminum and it's certainly possible that the H-E coil is welded into the tank. Best I can say from here is clean it thoroughly and see if you can pinpoint the leak. You may be able to epoxy it or, depending how involved you want to get, it may be possible to get it welded. Either way you'll have to positively identify the source of the leak.

 

[magnawake]

Well, the JB weld did not hold..DANG.. it looked so good too. Now I see a little pin hole so I will re do the JB weld. I thought all was OK, because with the city water pressure only, it didnt leak. In fact when I left the hot water heater element off for two whole days I was starting to celebrate. I then turned the breaker on and it started leaking soon after. Bummer. Its got to be the extra heat or pressure building up. Not sure, but its a pain anyway. How long do these Force 10 water heaters last anyway?

 

[MikeP]

epoxies like JB Weld - which is great stuff - usually don't do to well when gooped on the outside of a leaking fitting unless there is very little pressure involved. They work better when place on the inside of the fitting - so the pressure is trying to literally force the JB weld through the hole as opposed to lifting it off. Also, they need a surface with a good "tooth" to adhere well. So if you redo it the same way, be sure to clean and roughen the area with a stiff wire brush, some 240 grit paper, or something like that and then clean the surface with acetone. Then be sure there is no pressure/liquid present until the JB has set up.

I have seen JB weld "temporarily" repair cracks in transmissions and engine blocks on farm equipment that is still holding just fine after many years. I personally used it to repair a hole in a transmission on a 1986 Dodge Daytona in 1988. In 2002, when I donated the car to charity, it was still doing the job.

 

[Boatsb]

If a new 11 gal seaward with HE is $250-300 whats the point of finding a "presidential solution".

 

[wsdemmer]

Try marine Tex which is much better than JB at higher temps. I used it on my generator filler neck at the heat exchanger. 120 hrs and no leak so far. Had a mech say that it is the only thing he uses on repairs and so far he is correct.

 

[MikeP]

"If a new 11 gal seaward with HE is $250-300 whats the point of finding a "presidential solution"."

Yes..there is that!

 

[magnawake]

"If a new 11 gal seaward with HE is $250-300 whats the point of finding a "presidential solution"."

Yes..there is that!

I'm confused about the "Presidential Solution". Could you be referring to some type of N.....Rigging. Yeah, thats what I'm doing. I'm leaving for Charleston in a few days and dont have the time to mess with replacing the heater. But if it last, I'm good with that too.

Presidential Solution....I'm gonna have to remember that....

 

[Finalee]

Pate,

When mine started doing that I took it apart sanded the tank down and pathed all the bad areas with epoxy. lasted 1 day and new holes appeared. I replace it with a Bosch 7 gallon unit. I never run out of water, it has a replacable anode, the tank is glass, and it cost less than $300 at home depot. Minor plumbing issues accomplished with flex hose. The out side case is plastic. It is probably better suited for the marine environment than most marine heaters.

When are you headed down?

 

[saltshaker]

If you've got reasonable access, go ahead and replace it now. It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours unless you have to rip things apart to get the units in and out. If your repair lets loose while you're cruising, it's much more a pain to deal with. Fix it at home and have some peace of mind while away from your home dock.

 

[MikeP]

FWIW, when I replaced our oem 20 gal water heater which started leaking after only 28 years of service (!), I was determined to plumb in the new one just like the old one - oem-style 1/2" copper lines/flare fittings/valves to isolate the tank/anti back flow valves. It was a DUMB decision. The plumbing was by far the most work of the project and the next time (hopefully there won't be a next time for us), I would just use flex hose. You still need the isolation and anti-back flow valves but it took me a full day to do all the tube bending/flaring/"oops, it's leaking," cut/reflare/etc. With flex fittings it would have taken maybe an hour to do the same thing.

I was concerned that the flex stuff wouldn't be as good as the copper but the flex hose takes domestic water pressure which is generally higher than what is on the boat anyway. OTOH copper will out live us but given the work/time involved, a 10 minute job to replace a flex hose every few years isn't much of a concern.

But I don't know what ABYC/surveyors say about that (flex hose vs copper)

 

[Avenger]

I agree, if it's only $250 to $300 just replace it and be done with it. You're going to burn just as much time trying to band-aid it as you will installing a new one.

 

[magnawake]

I Know, I know....Actually it doesnt leak until we turn on the heating element. Seems like the preesure gets to much. I patched it again and its not leaking, but I know it will. Thats a good idea going with the flex hose. As soon as we get back from Charleston I will replace it. I dont think it will totally blow out. At least I hope it wont. It's only 8 yrs old. Force 10, which is now Kuuma. Sounds like Lowe's is a better option.

 

[Avenger]

Not to break your chops, but "it doesn't leak until we turn on the heating element" is kind of like "the engine doesn't smoke until we start it." But it does help point out the nature of the problem and why epoxy probably isn't going to hold. When it gets hot that joint is changing shape from thermal stress which is making the crack or pinhole open up. Epoxy is probably going to have a hard time keeping up with that. On the plus side, since you're not using the heat-exchanger you have a wider range of replacement options.

 

[magnawake]

Not to break your chops, but "it doesn't leak until we turn on the heating element" is kind of like "the engine doesn't smoke until we start it." But it does help point out the nature of the problem and why epoxy probably isn't going to hold. When it gets hot that joint is changing shape from thermal stress which is making the crack or pinhole open up. Epoxy is probably going to have a hard time keeping up with that. On the plus side, since you're not using the heat-exchanger you have a wider range of replacement options.

I can turn the breaker on and I'll have hot water in less than 1 hour. I was thinking the thermostate is not working so it is boiling the water. Maybe the relief isnt opening up. Also, the water leaks out of the show head in the night when the water is being heated. I think its heating up too much. But needless to say I need another water heater. Right now, I'm just turning the heater on just enough to get the water hot, then cut it off before it starts leaking.

I'm running the engines and turning them off, and coasting down the waterway, that way it wont smoke. ha-ha.