Ok, I've read the other posts and still cannot find a solution to this problem. I have a brand new 65 gallon water heater (Defender) put into my new home with power vent. Whenever I put hot water into our hottub or use the showers, I get a brown color. I do have a water softener installed and no reports of serious iron in our water.

Here's where it gets tricky. The plumbers that did all the plumbing are even stumped. I have flushed the water heater five times already. First draining the water heater completely and the rushing cold water into the tank for a few seconds to try and jet out any crud that may be in there. I've also left the drain valve open as well as our sink and hottub faucets on to try and jet out the lines. I've even filled up the hottub with the faucet set on hot (though the water is cold because it's just coming from a freshly drained water heater) and the hottub/shower is crystal clear.

Whenever the water gets hot, it turns brown. If it were because of my well, why wouldn't the cold water be that color? Water softener works fine as well. The plumbers are supposed to come by to check it out and if they can't figure out the problem, they will replace the water heater as that is the only other troubleshooting I can think of. PLEASE HELP!!

Can't remember exact make, but I do know it's a Defender with LP hookup.

Hey Gus:

Well.. you present a tough one to be sure. I have a guess, but only a guess... ok?

This being a new water heater rules out the typical brown water complaint such as an old anode rod that needs to be replaced.

The water softener with a magnesium anode rod can increase chances of brownish hot water... or smelly hot water... but that depends more on water chemistry in your area AND, again, this heater is too new to have these issues.

The only thing I seem to be able to come up with at this point is a defective tank lining. Here, during the manufacturing process, water heaters have a glass "slurry" (porcelain) introduced into interior of tank where it is baked at like 1500 degrees F to create a LINER between the steel tank and the water.

If defective manufacturer process, steel might be exposed to water in much greater surface area than it should be resulting in rusty colored water that will go away after flushing, but may return in couple days or so as rust begins to acummulate again.

I could go into all kinds of details about water heaters and how they protect against corrosion, etc... but don't think it is really applicable here.

For now, I think tank lining is defective and water heater needs to be replaced.

Check back in every few hours or so and see what some of the other people online here have to say... we have good bunch here... they may have other ideas.

Let us know what you think... Mark

Thanks for the input. I was leaning towards that as a problem, but was not sure as I am nowhere sufficient in knowledge in the plumbing area. My father asked me about the anode, but like you said, those last for a long time and it wouldn't make sense for it to be bad.

Here's a naïve question, but is there any way that I would be able to shut off the gas, water... Disconnect the power vent and undo the lid to the water heater to check inside? My plumbers haven't called back yet (though it's the weekend) and I'm hoping they can come by to physically see the problem.

I found this article talking about iron bacteria in my water and it suggests having a chlorine feeder hooked up. I don't currently have one at the house, but do anticipate getting one soon (at least when we FINALLY sell our other house). There is a sulfur "rotten egg" smell in our water, but I figured that wouldn't cause the rusty water color.

Hey Gus:

I am afraid that there really is no way to check what I proposed... see the hot and cold water tappings into the heater either has a dip tube (cold) or a heat trap (hot) inside them. Now these could be removed... but even then you can only see down a 3/4" hole... will show some of tank liner... but won't show anything to do with the upper 1/3 of the tank (where most of the tappings are and where most of mislined tanks go bad).

Now.. you didn't have any issue with previous water heater... yes..? If no previous issues then I have to figure steel is in direct contact with water and causing these issues.

Water heaters swap out pretty easily... could waste a lot of time investigating things only to find nothing, when would have taken the plumbers an hour or two MAX. to swap this out..?

I hate to see this... hard for you and the plumbers that installed the unit... most likely nothing to do with them (most likely..? ).

The blue pipe you mentioned sounds like a pex piping.. there are so many different kinds of pex today and so many different crimping tools... hard to say what tool they used. If using the viega pex system then they use the tool below (also need a cutter and a reamer).. whole kit costs about $200.00... and some plumbing supply houses are renting them for $30-$60...

Sorry don't have more concrete answer. Keep us posted.. ok?

Mark

Hey Gus... did you add to your post.. or did I miss part of it.. (read my last post, too)

NO.. can't LIFT lid of tank... sealed /welded tank.

The sulpher smell is definitely a reaction between the magnesium anode rod and the water being softened... may need to swap the anode rod over to an aluminum anode rod (discuss with plumbers that showed up).

Could try that first...

I would recommend that you remove the softened water from going into water heater... that would also reduce issues for future! Something else to discuss with the plumbers.

Here is a website to read up on these things...

The Inspector's Journal Forums - Anode Rods and Water Heater Cathodic Protection (http://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2431)

Read up... let me know your thoughts... Mark

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