Replacing the Fourth Water Heater Tank
I woke up early this morning to get ready to go snowboarding at Liberty. I went down the basement to pick up my gears. My paranoia told me to check on the brand new water heater tank we just installed a week ago. To my dismay, I spotted water all over the drain pan. I soaked up all the water from the pan and ran floor drying fan. I checked the pipes and pressure relief valve and they were dried. When I pointed the fan at the bottom of the tank water gushed out. I knew we were in deep shit. I had to cancel my snowboarding adventure. I came right back home after dropping my eldest son to school.
My only option was to replace a new tank. I couldn’t call Tilo (the previous installer) because it was not his fault that the tank leaked. I determined to do it myself. After two defected tanks, I was done with A.O. Smith. I went to Home Depot to pick up a Rheem tank. I also bought a hand truck to move the tank myself. With my wife’s help, we transported the new tank to the basement. When we cut the box open, the tank had big dent at the top. The screws were twisted. My wife told me to get another tank and I couldn’t agree more. When we bought the second A.O. Smith tank, it also had a dent at the bottom. In retrospect, we should have exchanged it for another tank.
I asked my wife to come with me to Home Depot to exchange it. When I told the customer service rep about the defect, I asked her if I could open up the box to make sure the tank was in good shape and she agreed. We brought the new tank back home as the old tank drained out all of the water. Obviously I turned off the power before draining the water; therefore, I just had to screw the pipes back on. The hot line went in fine, but the cold line with the shut-off valve wouldn’t connect to the new tank. No matter how many turns I made I couldn’t get it in. I went back to Home Depot to get another flexible pipe to connect the pipe with the valve to the new pipe. Since the new pipe is longer, I decided to remove two SharkBite connectors Tilo had put in. I wanted to simplify the connections. Trying to disconnect the SharkBite was a bitch. I tried tapping, pulling, and it still didn’t come out. I decided to just cut the pipe off.
After connected all the pipes, I turned the water back on to make sure nothing was leaking. After the tank was filled with cold water, I connected the electric wires. I flipped the breaker back on and I could hear the tank started to heat up. I am keeping my eyes on the drain pan and keeping my fingers crossed. I hope this is it after the fourth tank.
When I took out the O.A. Smith tank, there was indeed a crack at the bottom. I had to take it back to Lowe’s to return it. My whole day was wasted on installing the tank. Then again, I am now becoming proficient at installing water heater tank.