We had a 40 gallon hot water tank that all of a sudden we had no hot water. Called plumbing company and they came in. I asked how long before we had hot water and he said in a couple of hours. I left our condo and in an hour received call that our condo was flooded and so were numerous floors below us in a concrete building?

Hi Sdbrand...

It could be 100s of gallons... especially if the relief valve was discharging at full rate for some reason.. UGH!

Have you been home yet to see the damage?

The expense of repairing the damage done should be the responsibility of the plumbing company that caused the spill. What was leaking? The relief valve? From a element connection? Don't tell me they left the boiler drain open. Let me know, Tom

Yes I hired a professional plumbing to come fix tank because we had no hot water. Tank was not leaking before; we just had no hot water. He removed this black box that had diagnostic button, vacation and overide buttons on it and said it should be fixed. He said if that didn't fix it that it could be an element. I asked him can't he see if it is element? He said he was pretty certain it was black box.

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Originally Posted by massplumber2008

Hi Sdbrand...

It could be 100s of gallons....especially if the relief valve was discharging at full rate for some reason..UGH!!

Have you been home yet to see the damage?

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What I don't understand is we hired this plumbing company to come in because we had no hot water and an hour later there was a flood. Yah, I was there right away.

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Originally Posted by speedball1

The expense of repairing the damage done should be the responsibility of the plumbing company that caused the spill. What was leaking? The relief valve? From a element connection? Don't tell me they left the boiler drain open. Let me know, Tom

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I hired this plumbing company because we had no hot water. They removed this black box that had a diagnostic button vacation and overide button. I asked if we had hot water yet and he said no in a couple of hours and said if that didn't work it could be an element. I said can't you tell if it's an element and he said he was pretty sure it was the black box.

I know all about that black box and the plumber's right about it being the most likely issue as these boxes are notorius for being problematic...

However, as you suggested if he wanted too he should have been able to tell if it was an element, decisively!

Still doesn't explain how the leak occurred as these boxes do not have anything to do with a water connection... all electrical.

Where did the heater leak from?

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Originally Posted by speedball1

The expense of repairing the damage done should be the responsibility of the plumbing company that caused the spill. What was leaking? The relief valve? From a element connection? Don't tell me they left the boiler drain open. Let me know, Tom

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I don't know exactly what the guy did because I was not in the room. I just know I hired this plumbing company because we had no hot water and an hour later there was a flood.

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I asked if we had hot water yet and he said no in a couple of hours and said if that didn't work it could be an element. I said can't you tell if it's an element and he said he was pretty sure it was the black box.

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Good plumbers don't "guess" You got a bad one! He should have known what was wrong and repaired it before he left. OUTRAGEOUS! He caused the flood, he pays for the cleanup. Period! Good luck, Tom