It is simply a nightmare for those who have experienced a sudden dripping of water from their ceilings, as if a natural hot downpour, threatening all their valuables, electronics, furniture, books to racks etc. It is not a joke to stand inside your house with water flooded all around you up to your ankle or so. If you are still thinking this is nothing but a fiction story, you need to think again and check your water heater. Therefore, if you have a water heater connected to the main boiler of your house you need to be equipped with the understanding of the reasons which lead to leakage and burst hot water.
However, there could be multiple reasons behind the bursting of a hot water heater. Among some of the popular causes, over heating or malfunctioning of the thermostat may lead to overheating of water and bursting of the heater owing to the excessive pressure of steam inside. Or a major leakage in the pipelines, corroded joints and fixtures may also lead to sudden burst. Therefore, in order to ensure your house remains safe from sudden burst hot water, you need to know the common reasons behind it.
Sediment Deposition
In most of the houses, there is a hard water supply. Now, hard water in general consists of lots of minerals and since as per the system mechanism the water is stored in the tank. This leads way for the minerals to settle down at the bottom of the tank and form a layer of mineral deposition. The water in the tank is therefore barred from getting heated and the connection with the burner is also disturbed due to the mineral layer.
This leads way for the burner to operate longer than it is required. Excessive load on the burners deteriorates the tank. Now such deteriorations make way for a leakage or can even cause a sudden burst of hot water. In order to avoid such damages, what you can do is to flush the tank at a regular interval in order to avoid sediment deposition in the first place.
Pressure Built Up
The chances of excessive air pressure built up increases when the water is heated to the brim or even in cases when the external water supply has an excessive temperature. Pre-setting of your water heater to 120 -125 degrees can help you to resist such issues to some extent.
You can also get routine maintenance by professionals to keep a constant check on the temperature and air pressure controlling valve. While you may not understand the proper operational technique of the valve it is smart to assign routine maintenance to the certified technicians.
Corrosion
Water heater tanks have a normal tendency of catching rust. Since these tanks are made of steel. Due to the constant touch of water and that too in high temperature, sometimes the tanks get corroded. While the anode rod inside the water heater functions to avoid rusts, over a period of continued usage of the heater, the functional capacity of the anode rod deteriorates leading way to build up of rust. How you can spot rusting is to keep a track of any rusty brownish tinge on your hot water tap, which might be the indication of rust formation in your water heater. In order to avoid such issues you can seek for professional technical assistance and get your anode rods inspected, tanks checked, replace the anode rod on a routine basis or as it is required, for these rods in generally offer an operational service for at least 3 to 5 year after which they need a replacement.
