Strange water leak
 

Has anyone ever seen something like this happen to a plastic fitting, this was in the water inlet to my water heater with a plastic pex fitting attracted to it.

Denny

It looks like the one side either wore away from friction or melted a bit. I have not seen this before.

There was no sighs of any pieces in the pex fitting and I didn't notice a leak until yesterday but it has been leaking for a few days, one good thing is we are in the desert so everything is drying put fast.

Denny

Haven't seen it before. The only thing I just now at the tank are brass back check valves. If the internals are not necessary because of shut offs on the pex, I gut them.

Steve

My tank is steel with no brass fittings anywhere and the end that is bad went into the plastic pex fitting. When I get to Yuma and have time I'm going to change the top fitting, I want to do it the morning and not late on a Saturday afternoon in case I run into problems.

Denny

Denny,

I just always replace anything screwed into the tank with brass. I have had problem with those little plastic nipples leaking, so I just don't mess with them.

Steve

I tried to use brass but late in the day all the brass ones were to short or to long so I bought a plastic one.

Denny

makes me wonder if checking this area is something to add to the checks?


I always, every few days, open the basement and take visual at the water connections but not the access area for the heater.

Usually the leaks I see there are more common on units with considerable age and it depends on what has been used at the tank. I have the most trouble with that nipple that Denny included in his post. Even when I am installing a new one, sometimes I just can't get them to seal, so I just stopped using them at all. :)

Steve

I started looking for the leak when I found water in the basement, access to my water heater isn't easy because I have to remove some panels under the sink. I also found that I couldn't turn the bottom bypass valve but after some creative cutting I can now turn it.

Denny