Thanks guys and gals. This board is such a fantastic resource for any question I might have regarding anything from water heaters to the nature of photons! Perhaps some day soon ya’ll can even walk me through my annual existential crisis!
To answer a few questions…
The main burner is on not just the pilot. It’s a big circular blue flame.
The outgoing warm water pipe is not warm.
It might be the dip tube, but I would still have limited warm water even if it was broke. Also, my heater was made after that whole late nineties dip tube debacle.
I’ve run upstairs and downstairs faucets running on hot for quite awhile to make sure there is nothing frozen up.
Jeff L. suggested some sort of internal leak. This seems to be the most plausible explanation.
It’s weird; a big fire under a container of water should result in warm water. Apparently not to a new homeowner.
I just found out that they are not too expensive to replace. (Much less than I had nightmares about) Also, I talked to my buddy/realtor and he said that he’s pretty sure that I have some sort of first year insurance for this sort of thing.
If you got a home warranty when you purchased the place, it should be covered.
I just moved in June, sold our old house in November. The week before we closed on the old house, the water heater went kaflooey at the new house. (water all over the basement - very obviously dead) We had no home warranty (it’s an ongoing project sort of house). We knew the water heater was old when we bought it. We also knew that the water heater at the old house was very old (both were over 20yrs). The buyer had requested a warranty, which we paid for. We joked at the closing that if she was wise, she’d take a crowbar to the thing before the year was up.
She just called us a week ago. The water heater went a month after she bought the place. It was covered. She was happy.
If you have a new home warranty, this not only should be covered, but should be considered an emergency repair that should get attention TODAY. A malfunctioning water heater during a Midwest winter is no joke, but this would be an emergency even in California.
Just a cover your bases response, but did it ever work that you know of?
There’s a slight possibility that the installer made the connections backwards. So that the supply pipe to the faucets is drawing from the bottom of the tank rather than the top. You should be able to visually confirm proper connections to the heater.
Yes it did work up until yesterday. The homeowners insurance will cover it but I’m having a hell of a time finding a service that will come out today.
In my long list of phone calls about this whole deal I ended up being transferred to a guy at the Kenmore factory where they are made. We talked for a bit about the problem and he pretty much had the same questions as you all. Eventually he said it was all very wierd and couldn’t really tell me what might be happening. He did say, however, that if he had to venture a guess it would be some sort of internal leak. Pretty much the same thing Jeff L. said above.
So Jeff you get the cash reward for an expert-level diagnosis! The check is in the mail…well not yet, or ever, really. But you still win. Good job.
Have you tried your gas company. Many utilities offer retail services for the appliances that use their product. They usually have competative prices and excellent service.
Consider that you may have calcium build up and you may be heating through a layer multiple feet thick. A few inches is enough to loose much efficiency. To get to the point of feet thick build up before failure, you’d need a double element electric heater. A fifty gallon tank could have so much scale that it holds only a few gallons. You would notice the water getting cold after a shorter draw from the tank as months went by. The water may never reach the point at witch you set the thermostat, and the flame would burn forever, because the water never hits the set temperature.
The cause of this amount would be that the anode rod is corroded away. You can almost always win the bet when you say the homeowner never replaced it.
Install a thermal expansion tank to reduce the pressure build up when the water heats. This will make your water fixtures, appliances, and lines last longer. It’s a small tank with air bladder installed a few feet past the water heater on the hot line. Have the person installing the new heater in stall the thermal expansion tank at the same time. Remember to check the air pressure for the bladder a with a tire gage once a year.
Remember to clear the snow and ice from all exhaust vents. Your forced by fan exhaust gas appliances are built not run when the vent is blocked. Hopefully it works if required. Gas appliances without the forced exhaust will just plain kill you. My reminder to people is to get a carbon monoxide detector, and check ones you have are working.