I have an 8 year old gas hot water heater. I noticed the sump pump was running a bit lately and believe the excess water is coming from a copper pipe that runs from the side of the heater into the drain that leads to the sump pump. Also, there is a small amount of water around the heater. How could these two be related? What is that copper tube on the side. It also has an expansion tank, and it is not coming from that. It is reasonable that an 8 year old water heater would leak? I am hoping the water will be gone by tomorrow, if not, I will call someone to look at it.
First-you have a water heater. The water isn’t hot prior to heating. The pipe on the side of the water heater is likely leading from the temperature and pressure valve. If temperature and/or pressure would cause the valve to actuate, a discharge of water would be observed from the drain line.
The copper pipe probably connects to an overpressure relief valve (unless your heater is one of the fancy condensing units, in which case it could simply be the normal condensate discharge - basically just water). The relief valve may be going bad and allowing water to escape (or maybe your lines are overpressurized and its acting properly). Either way, you probably need a professional to diagnose. The water around the base may or may not be related - it the heater did experience an over pressure situation, it would cause a pretty forceful discharge of water from the copper pipe - could the spray have cause the water on the floor? Or it could be a bad fitting somewhere or a crack in the tank or any of a whole host of issues. Best bet is to probably get it looked at - 8 years is within the life expectancy of most modern hot water heaters (think they usually give a range of 7-13 years).
Thanks for the replies. I went down this morning and the amount of water is either the same or slightly less than before. I don’t think I am looking at imminent catastrophic failure. I think I will make a call next week and have it looked at by a professional. How much does it cost these days to replace a water heater and haul away the old one, should that be the case. Just a ball park figure of course.
I had to do this last year or the year before and it came to just under $1,000. Labor is a killer.
Yes, labor is the killer. I replaced mine last week. The water heater I purchased as a 40 gallon natural gas fired one. It cost ~$330 from Lowes. My father and I provided the labor so that cost nothing except lunch at Dairy Queen. We spent another ~$40 in parts for copper tubing, flexible gas tube and permatex. My dad already had the torches and the lead-less solder… soilder… soldier… melty metal stuff.
So if you can do the work yourself, it should/could cost around $375 or $400.