Adventures in Hot Water Heater Repair

Left unattended, this water heater rust and corrosion would have
become an expensive repair job.

Unless you're living off grid, immediately available hot water is pretty much taken for granted. Since I know my wife isn't so far along in her preparedness mindset that she'd willingly boil water to take a hot bath, when I saw my hot water heater at the Rugged Homestead had developed a very small leak -- almost imperceptible except for the persistent bit of wetness on top of the tank -- I figured I better take care of it sooner rather than later.

Previously I had seen some corrosion on top of the tank, and because it was an older model I figured they hadn't used dielectric fittings so that when two different metals touch -- in this case copper and steel -- you get corrosion. I had cleaned it up, but it came right back, and now I had a leak so I decided it was time to pull on my plumber's cap and tackle the job.

Except I'm no plumber and one time before when I had first bought the house, my plumbing "skillz" led to -- well let's say I have a whole new kitchen and upstairs bathroom as a result. So I got the skeptical eye from my wife when I said I was going to "fix" the hot water heater.

But this seemed a pretty straightforward job. I knew I would have to cut the copper pipe for the cold water and since I suck at soldering, I decided I would use the Shark Bite fittings that you just push into place. They grip the pipe with tiny teeth holding it in place -- hence the "Shark Bite" name -- and prevent leaks.

And just to spice things up I figured it would be a good time to change the anode rod as well.

What your anode rod should look like, and what it probably does.
Image source: Arico Plumbing Heating Cooling

The anode rod's purpose is to corrode. Seriously. Since you have a steel tank, the water would want to corrode it, so manufacturers insert a sacrificial rod into the tank whose sole function is to attract the corrosion, drawing it away from your tank. They should probably be replaced every 5 years or so, and I know mine hadn't been changed in the 7+ years I've owned the house. I could hazard a guess it hadn't been replaced by the previous owner either and I was up to the task, particularly after viewing some YouTube videos on water tank maintenance and repair.

That's when I discovered it would probably be a good think to check on and replace my dip tube too.

The dip tube is where the cold water pipe enters into the tank and it takes the cold water to the bottom where it gets heated up. The hot water rises and then exits the tank through the hot water pipes. If you notice it takes a long time for your water to heat up, it's probably because your dip tube broke. The cold water it entering the tank at the top, and then staying there. It takes a while for the hot water that's been heated to make it to the outlet. Repair your dip tube and you should get hot water more quickly.

And this is what causes problems? This plastic tube shuttles
cold water from the top of the tank to the bottom

And since I was already going to be removing the connection where the cold water was, why not repair the dip tube at the same time?

Well, because no one sells those parts locally. Home Depot and Lowe's don't sell them, and the local hardware stores don't either. Finally one told me that because I have an A.O. Smith heater (supposedly a good brand) they tend to use parts unique to them. I'd have to find a parts distributor. Yeah good luck with that.

In the end, after a lot of Internet searching, I found SupplyHouse.com. They had the best prices on the parts, very reasonable shipping rates, and best of all an overnight guarantee. I placed my order at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, at 6:30 p.m. I got an email saying my order had shipped, and at 12:30 p.m Thursday, UPS dropped them on my front porch. that's quick turnaround time!

So then it was off to Home Depot to get the Shark Bite parts. I was expecting a lot of small pieces would be needed, but it turns out all that was necessary was a dielectric nipple, a length of shark Bite flexible hose, and a Shark Bite 3/4"x1/2" male fitting.

Building codes require water lines be 3/4" now. My house being older has 1/2" pipes. With those three parts though (and some $35 later) I was ready to go.

I started with the anode rod, figuring that was easiest and it was. I sprayed some Freeze-Off onto the nut that held the anode rod in place because I assumed it had been rusted in place (and I was right). Using a 1-1/16" socket, I attached a length of black pipe to my ratchet as a breaker bar and was able to muscle it loose without moving the water heater and bending the supply lines.

Once removed, it was a simple thing to replace it with the new one. I wrapped some teflon tape around the threads and screwed it into place.

Job 1 complete!

Onto the more difficult task of cutting the copper pipe. Not that it's hard to do with a tube cutter, but it's one of those irreversible decisions you make once you get started. Once you've severed the line you have to see the job through till the end.

Fortunately it was again a lot easier than I'd feared. The nut and old nipple easily came out so that after a bit of clean up of the threads I had the new nipple installed. It was then a quick matter to attach the hose and the reducer fitting and slide it onto the copper pipe. Viola!

A little baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and elbow grease.
Ain't perfect but it's better than before. And no more leak!

I then spent some time cleaning up the top of the water heater from the rust and corrosion that was present. Using hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, I made a paste, applied it, and let it set for about 15 minutes before coming back and scrubbing. It didn't look like new, but certainly looked a heckuva lot better than it did.

And that was when I realized I forgot to install the dip tube!

So I backed out the nipple and peered in. The old dip tube looked good as far as I could see, which really wasn't very far at all. And it didn't easily lend itself to coming out as it was set down inside. Since I wanted to use the new tube I'd bought the only thing I could do was push the old remnants (presumably) of the tube down inside the tank. Not an optimal solution, but not a problem either.

The new tube slid right in, I attached the nipple once more, and turned on the water. No leaks! Success. I could face my wife with a bit of manly swagger in my step.

It turns out it was a much easier repair than I anticipated. There was a lot of waiting around for the tank to drain (you should do that once a year anyway) and wrenching the rusted nuts off was a bit of a chore but not impossible. In all, a job that anyone with reasonable handyman skills can readily accomplish in a relative short amount of time.

Now I just gotta wait for the tank to fill up with hot water so my wife can take that hot bath.