I drained a couple of gallons from my hot water tank last week and now I see that it is leaking a small amount from the bottom - not the drain valve. I am wondering if I over-tightened the valve and that resulted in a leak from where the drain pipe enters the actual tank.


It's a 12-year-old GE electric using mineral-rich well water.


Is it repairable or time for a new one?

Let me turn the question around. What would I do if I have a
"12-year-old GE electric using mineral-rich well water and it is leaking"?

I would bet a dollar to a donut that it is about on it's last leg and should be replaced.

PS Well water can be rough on many things in a house. Especially if you are dealing with mineral-rich well water.

I would not suggest to change it at this point lets try to find where the leak is coming from, it may be just an easy fix.

Check the drain valve base if the leak is coming from the base you would need to drain the tank, remove the drain valve check the tank port for a crack if there is any crack time to change, if no crack clean the treads on the valve, use some teflon tape install the drain valve fill the tank and see hope it will work, good luck.

John

I would find the leak and see if it was worth fixing before I dumped old reliable.

I don't think you have over-tightened the valve. More like you didn't tighten it enough. Check on top of the heater, around the hot and cold nipples for wetness. While there, inspect pipe connections that connect heater with house plumbing. If leaking on top, water will travel though the insulation around the tank and will drip on the bottom. Also, I would check T&P valve. If pressure ( or temperature ) too high, T&P valve will release small amount of water to release pressure.

With all that said, I tend to lean towards replacing the heater. If you got 12 years out of it, you are making money. Remember, plumbing is like health. It is all about taking preventive measures. Once it becomes an emergency, you will pay twice a much to have it replaced, not to mention it may flood your house

Hope that helps

Milo

Thanks all for your feedback.

I wouldn't want to try removing the drain valve myself - I'll leave that to a plumber but I don't really want to pay him to find out I need a new heater.

My electric water heater in my previous house lasted at least 25 years so I guess I was thinking it was worth trying to fix this one.

I'll test the T&P valve to see if that helps but I think I'll be looking for a new one.

Thanks again.

The leak started getting worse so I had another look inside behind the panels. There was water building up on the insulation below the top heater element. It wasn't coming from just below the element but from the bottom of the bracket around it. I hadn't noticed that when I looked in there before.

I had a new water heater installed and when we were emptying the old one it had a lot of yellow "calcium" at the bottom. The plumber suggested I get a water softener installed, I don't know if that will help or not.