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John D


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It's always something...
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At least life's not dull.

Picked Sammy up from MSP at 0145. Nearly two hours of flight delays due to the storm, and she started her day at 0400 yesterday... one whupped kiddo when she got here.

Get to bed/asleep around 0330, wake up at my usual 0500, go downstairs for the daily "triple S" and SQUISH..... Soggy Carpet! angry  

Wasn't the storm.

Looking around in the mechanical closet, the "catastrophic failure" catch pan on the HW heater had 1/4" in it - but it wasn't refilling...(??) The side of the HW heater and the wall was wet. headscratch

After some recon I found a PINHOLE leak in one of the pipe joints coming off the hot water heater. It was peeing straight at the backside of my office wall, and running down to the floor (then under the sole-plate into the office = soggy carpet). I'm guessing it started as a dribble, running down the heater, then escalated to a stream on the wall. Who knows how long this was leaking/dribbling until it became a stream.

Guess what I'll be doing for the next couple of hours! At least I caught it at the "ounces per hour" stage instead of "gallons per minute"!!whew



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John D. - St. Louis Park, MN.

1965 El Camino - LT-1, 4L60e, 4wh discs, SC&C susp.
2013 F-150 Platinum - Twin Turbo 3.5

2018 Factory Five MkIV Roadster build thread
Enganeer


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Sometimes it's the little things that get you and it will be on the opposite side you can see.

I had the same issue with a brand new dishwasher I installed months ago. Came home last Monday and noticed a small puddle next to the recycling bin. Nothing in the recycling bin that would have made the puddle...moved the island and chased the trail...nothing 'dripping' but ends near the flex line end to the dishwasher. Felt a little moisture on the end...tighten it up some more...now it is actually making a slow drip...***...checked the fitting at the dishwasher...seems good at the dishwasher but felt a some moisture below that connection. Turns out that the bend of 'brand new' brass tube elbow that connected the flex line to dishwasher had a hairline crack that started to open up. Pulled the fitting off and sure enough, on the opposite side that faces you was a nice mineral trail down the side where the crack had initiated.

I spent more time looking in the hardware store for the replacement part than it took me to replace the part.

Good luck on the fix, sounds a little more involved with re-soldering / replacing joint fittings than mine.

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John E - Rogers, MN

Instructions? All I need is the exploded view.
70 El Camino soon to be ls1/t56
64 Malibu SS
John D


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I got lucky on this one!!

It would seem that my original grounding buss across the inlet & outlet of the HW heater was not adequate. There was some serious electro-galvanic corrosion going on. From the looks of it I was about (pick a number... seconds/minutes/hours/days) from a SERIOUS blow-out and leak.

Back to physics class... dissimilar metals. The fittings on a water heater are iron/steel, pipes are copper. You put these directly together and they'll react - eventually destroying eachother. They are also good electrical conductors.
This is why dielectric unions are installed on the top of the water heater, to "de-couple" the two metals from eachother. However, this also de-couples the electrical path (grounding) between the inlet and outlet pipes, so a grounding bridge/strap needs to be installed across the two pipes on the copper side. This will restore the conductivity of the plumbing to ground.

When the grounding path isn't adequate, Mr. Electron will find a way to complete the circuit... by using the water as a conductor across the union. Since copper is weaker than steel, and a better conductor, it goes sacrificial - and starts to erode.

The failed fitting is the male part of the dielectric union.

Pics 1,2,3 are the failed fitting. Look at the inside of the pipe on pic 3!

Pic 4 is the new/replaced/upgraded grounding bridge.

In the shadow of the pipe, on the wall, you can see where the water jet was starting to blow through/into the sheetrock!!



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John D. - St. Louis Park, MN.

1965 El Camino - LT-1, 4L60e, 4wh discs, SC&C susp.
2013 F-150 Platinum - Twin Turbo 3.5

2018 Factory Five MkIV Roadster build thread
bowtie


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My dryer got jealous of our new Fridge. Luckily, my wife was able to convince it that it's her favorite (for now).

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Bryan-NW 'burbs
1972 Malibu
Vaguely stock appearing, and the opposite of restored.
1999 std bore 5.7, Vortec heads, Holley Stealth Ram, GM cam
700R4, Viking coilovers, 12 bolt 4.10 posi, and a whole bunch more
John D


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Thing is a clothes dryer will only crap out when you need it...banghead This coulda popped a bolt when we were gone all day and I'd have an aquarium for a basement!!hitsfan


Man I'm glad it reared it's ugly head when I was home... cost me a PTO day, and about $15 in materials, but I don't have a flooded house. whew



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John D. - St. Louis Park, MN.

1965 El Camino - LT-1, 4L60e, 4wh discs, SC&C susp.
2013 F-150 Platinum - Twin Turbo 3.5

2018 Factory Five MkIV Roadster build thread
Lost in the 60s


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OK, you made me panic and run to the basement..hyper

I replaced the water heater about 12 years ago. There is no ground strap and wasn't when I replaced it. The heater is gas. Is the strap not needed on a gas unit ?



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Mitch D.   River Falls, WI

Lifetime member of the "Cars apart Club"

1966 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1970 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1967 Camaro SS/RS 350 M20
John D


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Doesn't matter - mine is gas as well. The strap is to complete the path to earth/ground across & before the insulated unions (not completing the path through the water heater).

A couple of grounding clamps and a length of bare #6 is all you need - electrical dept. at Home Depot or Menards - clean/buff the copper with some emery cloth before installing the clamps.

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John D. - St. Louis Park, MN.

1965 El Camino - LT-1, 4L60e, 4wh discs, SC&C susp.
2013 F-150 Platinum - Twin Turbo 3.5

2018 Factory Five MkIV Roadster build thread
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