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duke48 · Jul 16, 2011, 09:18 AM

I have a slight vibration only in the cold water line in my basement. When I release the pop-off valve, it stops. Is this telling me my water heater is bad?

massplumber2008 · Jul 16, 2011, 01:17 PM

Hi Duke...

This does NOT indicate that your water heater is going bad.

If this is a gas water heater, it could indicate that you haven't flushed the water heater in a long time.

It could also indicate that you have an issue with a water softener (if present), or even a pressure regulator issue.

It is hard to say without more information on this.

Please take a few minutes and follow the cold water pipe and see if you can isolate the vibration better. If you still find it isolated to the water heater then I would recommend that you power flush the heater by attaching a hose to the drain and opening the drain valve to flush the heater for 5-10 minutes (keep water on to the heater).

Let us know what you discover, OK?

Mark

duke48 · Jul 19, 2011, 09:00 AM

I flushed it and still ,it vibrates. When I shut the inlet valve to the heater, it stops vibrating. Would'nt this indicate water heater problems.

Milo Dolezal · Jul 20, 2011, 07:43 AM

What kind of nipples do you have on top of the water heater? Do they look like aluminum nipples ? If positive than you have the ones with back flow preventing device built in. I would remove them and installed regular nipple. See if that helps. There is a plastic ball inside each of them and that ball has tendency to vibrate when water flows around it. Back to you. Milo