Yesterday we installed a new water heater. Pretty straight forward, my father in law has done many of these. I monitored pretty closely for next 12 hours and the catch pan under the water heater continued to have water in it, even when no leaks could be seen at the connections or the release valve or anywhere else on the water heater. I continually, took this water out of the pan with a rag every couple hours. I checked in the morning and there is water in there again. Roughly, a 20 to 40 oz amount of water. I am pretty sure I received a defective water heater and it is leaking out of the bottom of the water heater. Has anyone experienced this? If I can't see leaks at the connections, the release valve, or anywhere else it must be leaking out of the tank. Does anyone know the cause of this, or what else I could check on this?
I also opened up the bottom of the water heater where you can see the pilot light and put my hand in the bottom of the water heater and I can feel water in there. There must be a leak in the inner case of the water heater, correct?
Best Answer
Possibly the tank leaks.
But it is far more likely that one of the through-hole connections is loose. Check those before blaming the manufacturer:
Well, I suppose if the heating unit is causing the leak, blame the manufacturer.
The top connections are easily checked by stuffing a paper towel or rag and see if they sop up anything.