Love to smack a plumber

[johnjk]

Was in the basement and noticed drips on the side of the HW tank. Surprise. It’s leaking up by the copper fitting. Well, at least it wasn’t the tank. Grabbed parts today and took it apart. Seems the installer didn’t use Teflon tape and we had some galvanic corrosion going on. Replaced the nipple and was able to reuse the copper connection. A few bucks and a few trips to the Hardware store which Pirate approved and leaks are gone. If you can’t do it right, why are you doing it? Too lazy to walk up and grab the Teflon tape I guess. Store was out of solder fittings in this size so I did a Shark Bite. Added bonus, I can now remove the pipe without additional cutting

 

[motionclone]

looks like amateur solder joints too. was he cheap?

 

[jimh406]

Maybe done by a homeowner who thought he was a plumber, or a plumber who thought he was.

 

[mcmxi]

Seems the installer didn’t use Teflon tape and we had some galvanic corrosion going on.

Teflon tape (PTFE) won't stop galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals. It has one purpose and that's to reduce friction between the threads so that the pipe thread can be tightened enough to not leak. It's not even a pipe sealant but I hear that all the time. Pipe thread is designed to seal via the taper on the threads. There are friction reducing/sealing type pastes for plumbing fittings of course and they're preferred for high pressure hydraulic systems due to the risk of teflon tape breaking free and plugging orifices.

 

[The Evil Twin]

It was likely a result of the insulator inside the galvanized pipe leaking. They are lined with plastic to prevent the water from contacting the steel. Whether or not the leak was caused by the plumber overtightening it.....who knows.
Given that amount of corrosion, I would check the anode too.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

curious... what's the grey box with wires connected to it do ??

 

[mcfarmall]

I'm not seeing any dielectric unions, hence your galvanic corrosion issues. I could sweat solder better than that when I was a seventh grader!

 

[L35]

Aren’t there supposed to be dielectric nipples on the in/out connections on a water heater to prevent such corrosion?

 

[radas]

On Terry Love forums they always recommend tape+dope for threaded connections (Blue Magic is my go-to). Good job and an easy fix.

+1 on the special unions for the HW heater

 

[mcfarmall]

All the industrial pipefitters use tape and dope on non-hydraulic applications.

 

[johnjk]

Yeah. It has me questioning a lot on this install. Tank is now 5 yrs old. The box up top is an electronic anode. With our well water the conventional anode does not stop the wonderful smell off the hot water. With the electronic unit, smell is gone. All my water lines are Pex so the copper does the Union to the Pex. I’m thinking they saved a couple bucks and skipped the dielectric unions. Interesting thing is the install manual for the unit says to use the Teflon tape to prevent the corrosion from happening and does not call out using the unions hence my title for this thread. As for tightness, on the original it was on that copper only around 1/16th of an inch. Not much of a seal. Had a good amount of rust built up between the top of the nipple and the copper. Need to source a dip tube for the cold side and then have more fun.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I'm confused???
Why not take the PEX right to the WH???
I thought code didn't allow a hard connection to the WH, I've always used stainless flexible connections on all my WH installs before PEX came along.
Now it's just PEX straight to the WH.

 

[Motion]

I agree with Evil Twin I believe you have other problems besides bad solder joints.

 

[The Evil Twin]

99% of the time, the dielectric fitting is the nipple. From the outside, it looks like a standard galvanized nipple. The inside is sleeved. If the old one does not have a plastic insert, that was the problem (and the plumbers fault). Tape or dope won't help.

 

[johnjk]

The old and new are plastic sleeved. I believe the cause was with the copper end not being snug and having a gap between the seal and the copper allowing water to pass and rust the threads. I’m not up on my plumbing code so I need to do some research as to why the pex has 12” of copper on the end to may that connection. Maybe a legacy building code for my area? Was thinking how much nicer it would be to eliminate that copper and go pex straight in.
I did try to clean the old one with a wire wheel, dress the threads with a file and reseal but the top is rusted and there are significant pits in the bottom of the threads. When back together it leaked pretty good. No issues with the new nipple and everything tight.
Appreciate all the feedback on this.

 

[The Evil Twin]

The old and new are plastic sleeved. I believe the cause was with the copper end not being snug and having a gap between the seal and the copper allowing water to pass and rust the threads. I’m not up on my plumbing code so I need to do some research as to why the pex has 12” of copper on the end to may that connection. Maybe a legacy building code for my area? Was thinking how much nicer it would be to eliminate that copper and go pex straight in.
I did try to clean the old one with a wire wheel, dress the threads with a file and reseal but the top is rusted and there are significant pits in the bottom of the threads. When back together it leaked pretty good. No issues with the new nipple and everything tight.
Appreciate all the feedback on this.

So this makes a little more sense now. Until I re read one of your posts about only having a few threads seated, I couldn't see how that would have happened with a dielectric nipple. But....if there was a miniscule leak at the threads then the water could have contacted the steel. The water, then becoming a conductor, enabled the corrosion. Most folks think of dielectric unions on water pipes and don't know there are nipples that accomplish the same thing.
BTW, which powered anode did you go with? We have the well water potpourri during the rainy season. Only the hot side. Was thinking about getting one myself but sounds like witchcraft. Lol.

 

[johnjk]

I’ve tried a couple with good results. I did lose my first when we got struck by lightening. The first one had a spring you had to stretch to fit the depth of the tank. Replacement I got wouldn’t calibrate so I went with this one from AO Smith and has set lengths. Worst part was digging out 3” of foam to get to the rod. No calibration required.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Thank you. I was looking at Corro-Pro-Tec. AO makes the water heater so maybe I'll go that route.

 

[IAkubotaGuy]

I'm confused???
Why not take the PEX right to the WH???
I thought code didn't allow a hard connection to the WH, I've always used stainless flexible connections on all my WH installs before PEX came along.
Now it's just PEX straight to the WH.

According to the Uniform Plumbing Code you need 18”of copper before you can connect to PEX. And I’m 99% sure flex connectors are illegal under the UPC.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

According to the Uniform Plumbing Code you need 18”of copper before you can connect to PEX. And I’m 99% sure flex connectors are illegal under the UPC.

Well I learned something, I was wrong on the PEX to the WH, but I was right on the stainless connectors.