Electric water heater started leaking this weekend and I changed it out today. 9 years old so I guess I should not fuss. Found out my suppliers’ heaters have a 6 year tank warranty. The other 3 suppliers here only have a 1 year warranty and all similar prices. My guy said AO Smith makes them all, and rebrands them. My problem is leaky fittings. My heater is tied to a Hardy wood heater, and the water comes through the Hardy preheated before the electric heater, with valves to bypass if needed. Many PVC fittings, elbows, valves, etc up there. There are 2 threaded PVC fittings that thread onto the copper heater inlet and outlet, and have rubber washer seals in them to seal to the copper. Both are leaking. They always leak. I tightened them as firmly as I dared with channel locks. Not sure if they are supposed to be lightly tightened or tighter than I did. Gotta cut out the PVC and start over. And the water heater is in the lowest place in the basement, so water never stops dripping to glue it. I put bread in the fitting this time that dripped. No glued joints dripped. Anybody know the correct way to install the threaded/washered fitting?
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Dang Water Heater
- Thread starter CJ5Dave
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I guess I would try some RectorSeal or similar pipe compound for those pesky leaks.
I like AO Smith heaters. Just replaced one that was made for Sears- got 17 years out of it.
I like AO Smith heaters. Just replaced one that was made for Sears- got 17 years out of it.
No, this is a CPVC fitting. The house is plumbed with CPVC so I don’t think it needs the dielectric fitting, But would be OK if it did not leak.
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I replumbed our 115 y.o. house with CPVC. The electric water heater has been in service for close to forty years and uses a fitting similar to what you describe. No leaks. The CPVC adapter to NPT has a knurled nut and shouldn't require a lot of torque to seal. The rubber gasket on my fittings is captive and should fully seal without danger of squeezing out due to excess torque on the nut, as can happen with a garden hose gasket. Disclaimer: these fittings were purchased before China trade became the norm so I can't speak to the quality of current stock.
You should not need to replace the CPVC unless you are seeing leaks occuring at other than the gasket. Eleven years ago, I replaced the pressure tank in our home water system and used all brass fittings for the long tee, the valve, ect. with a special brass coupling on the inlet that could function as a union in the event that I needed to service the tank. The coupling leaked from the get-go. I used Teflon tape first, then went to Teflon pipe dope, and finally to silicone gasket sealant, all with no joy. A close look at the pipe threads on the coupling showed that the tops of the threads were truncated rather than a sharp vee,, making it impossible to make a seal. I solved the problem by using epoxy on the threads. This was a made in USA part, BTW, so I can't blame the Chinese for that one.
Try to determine the source of the leak. Is it coming from the CPVC joint, the gasket area, or from the brass threads. That will determine the proper course of action. If you have the same problem that I faced and resort to epoxy to make a seal, remember that the epoxy seal can be broken in the event of having to replace a component with the use of heat.
You should not need to replace the CPVC unless you are seeing leaks occuring at other than the gasket. Eleven years ago, I replaced the pressure tank in our home water system and used all brass fittings for the long tee, the valve, ect. with a special brass coupling on the inlet that could function as a union in the event that I needed to service the tank. The coupling leaked from the get-go. I used Teflon tape first, then went to Teflon pipe dope, and finally to silicone gasket sealant, all with no joy. A close look at the pipe threads on the coupling showed that the tops of the threads were truncated rather than a sharp vee,, making it impossible to make a seal. I solved the problem by using epoxy on the threads. This was a made in USA part, BTW, so I can't blame the Chinese for that one.
Try to determine the source of the leak. Is it coming from the CPVC joint, the gasket area, or from the brass threads. That will determine the proper course of action. If you have the same problem that I faced and resort to epoxy to make a seal, remember that the epoxy seal can be broken in the event of having to replace a component with the use of heat.
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I don't know, all the plumbers talk about how bad cpvc is. They say they fail , it's just a matter of time. I have copper and don't have a problem sweating new fittings.
CPVC gets brittle in about 10-15 years, especially on hot water pipes. I had some burst in the wall behind the washer a while back. If you have to patch it it breaks rather than cuts. However, copper is a lost art and few plumbers can sweat copper here now. All new construction is either PVC or pex. And pex is worse. Several pex brands have recalls, but dealers won't honor them. The pex on my Hardy heater blows out somewhere every 6 months or so. It is supposed to be heat rated but splits over time on the hot water side.
Cold water PVC pipe seems more sturdy and I have not seen problems like CPVC.
Cold water PVC pipe seems more sturdy and I have not seen problems like CPVC.
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Plastic pipes- fooey- as my Dad would say
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