Popping Water heater

[levshalom]

I have an electric water heater and every time I take a shower it makes this loud popping sound. The mobile home was moved from a place that had city water to a place with a well. We've been here 2 years and the popping started about 6 months ago. Thanks Kim

[SchemeFighter]

That would make me paranoid. It could be something as simple and harmless as expansion and contraction; but it could be something very dangerous like a short; which could be a shock or a fire hazard.

Since its electric heater I would turn off the electric power to it; then take a shower while the water is still hot and see if it pops; if it pops with the eletric off it is probably something harmless like expansion and contraction. If it pops only with the electric on you could have a very dangerous situation; if it doesn’t pop with the power off it could be a short and it could possibly cause a shock or a fire. I would turn the power off to the water heater until you figure out/properly diagnose what the problem is.

I would also be a little concerned that it might be another possibly dangerous situation. If you have well water do you have a pressure gauge? If so check the pressure and make sure it’s not too high. I would be a little worried it might be a structural integrity problem with the water heater or an excessive pressure issue.

I’m not a professional plumber or electrician; but this sounds very scary to me. Perhaps others can elaborate or correct me.

[Greg]

Kim, Since there is well water involved, I would guess there is also hard water with lime & other minerals. I would start by draining the bottom of the tank and see what comes out. If you have a heavy build up It may be time to look into replacing the heater. Heaters are really not that expensive and will actually pay for themselves. The popping you are hearing could be crud on the elements heating up and cracking. Greg

[Brenda (OH)]

and if you replace it, you may want to consider draining a gallon of water out of the new water heater from the bottom every month, since that is the area of higher sediments.... and if this is just an urban legend my plumber told me, I apologize in advance! lol

Brenda (OH)

[SchemeFighter]

Kim, Since there is well water involved, I would guess there is also hard water with lime & other minerals. I would start by draining the bottom of the tank and see what comes out. If you have a heavy build up It may be time to look into replacing the heater. Heaters are really not that expensive and will actually pay for themselves. The popping you are hearing could be crud on the elements heating up and cracking. Greg

That’s quite likely. But I think there’s even a remote possibility that that could escalate into a dangerous situation if it’s not properly maintained.

Like you say flushing the tank can help diagnose and may even alleviate the problem. In addition it’s a good idea to replace the sacrificial plates/rods at something like 5 or 10 year intervals or possibly even more frequently if your water is particularly corrosive.

The question Kim asked gave me some flashbacks. One situation was one of the places I worked at had a strange intermittent popping sound and bad smell coming from the utility room; the other people that I worked with were into the occult and they were scared to go into the room because they thought it was haunted. One day we were slow and had some free time so I decided to investigate even though it wasn’t part of my job description is; I discovered that the popping sound and bad smell was a bad electrical connection that was arcing and burning insulation.

On another occasion it was a few weeks after my father replaced both heating elements on a conventional home large 80 gallon hot water heater it started to make intermittent popping and crackling sounds. I asked my father about it and he told me not to worry about it; that he had put a heating element in it that had extra high wattage to quickly heat the water, and it was probably just boiling at the element. A few months later it I couldn’t even take a shower with running out of hot water; and it seemed to take all day or all night for the water to heat back up. Everyone was blaming me for using too much hot water; I became aggravated and curious; so against my family wishes I drained the water heater and pulled the elements. The bottom element was virtually entirely gone like it corroded or arc welded itself to death. The top element was heavily corroded but still partly intact and the metal in the center of the element was slag. The bottom element was completely electrically open. The top element was open from each terminal; however the element was still partly heating because the element had welded itself to ground. So that’s why it was taking extremely long for the hot water heater to heat up. One element wasn’t heating at all; and the other element was only half working at 110 V instead of 220 V.

I asked my trusty hardware salesman why the elements would burn out so quickly. He told me that it was likely because the sacrificial anode rods (aka sacrificial plates or sacrificial element) in the water heater had probably reached the end of its life a long time ago. The sacrificial anode rods contain metals that readily react and help neutralize some of the corrosive materials and reduce electrolytic action in your water that can attack your tank and heating elements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrificial_anode

Thankfully the house had lots of redundant grounds for the plumbing. If the plumbing and the heater wasn’t properly grounded the way they heating element failed could have resulted in an electrocution.

I was familiar with sacrificial plates from working on historical engines but I never realized that it is common to have them in hot water heaters. We ended up having to replace the entire water heater because since the sacrificial plate was bad the water and possibly the electrolysis had badly corroded and rusted the hot water tank to the point that it was likely to fail. So as a precaution we replaced the entire hot water heater. The costs of replacing the elements and the sacrificial plate was a big chunk of the cost of an entire new hot water heater anyway.

I doubt that Kims problem is a short or bad wiring because it’s been going on for six months; but they’re still on enough of a doubt and concern that it would make me paranoid without thoroughly inspecting the electrical connections, the heating element(s), and the sacrificial plate in the water heater.

[Greg]

SchemeFighter, You obviousy have never had hard water. In hard water you are lucky to get 2 years out of elements. If you get 6 years out of the heater you are doing good. Greg

[oldfart]

Aye Greg..well said! And let me add that in areas of high lime content in the well water a standard elec. hot water tank won't last much longer than 2 or 3 years. The sediment from the lime falls to the bottom of the tank and gammahooches up the lower element. Replacement is possible...if you can get it out! Most of the time the element can't be removed to replace without an inordinate amount of labor involved. Dis-connect the wiring..roll the tank outside full of water (400lbs. for a 50gal. tank..) since the drain-valve is also gammohooched... and then try to remove the elements. Flushing the tank every month is an excellent idea...if it can be done. In many cases it can't. The drain-valve is locked up or blocked by lime. I found it easier to make it as easy as possible to remove the hot water tank and chuck it. Then just buy a new one and install it. The new flexible-connection hot water tank lines make this soooooo easy. If a hot water heater costs me $300 and lasts for 3 years my total investement is roughly 30 cents a day not counting electrical cost. I could spend several days trying to repair one..not have any hot water and still not solve the problem. JMHO of course. Audie..the longwinded Oldfart..

[Steve S.]

Wow, all this talk of hard water destroying water heaters is making me paranoid. I must have one of the finest electric water heaters ever constructed . I know I have hard water and I have no water softening system hooked up. But my water heater is at least 13 years old and has never missed a beat...no noise out of it and plenty of nice hot water on demand. All I do is an annual flushing of about 2-3 gallons out the bottom...plenty of sediment and gunk. I also have to flush the screens periodically in the faucets and washing machine inlets and drain pressure tank. I have never replaced the sacrificial anode (can't get the nut loose)...so I guess I'm living on borrowed time .

[shadow745]

I think I know exactly what is happening here as I experience the same thing and really nothing can be done about it. We have a high end water treatment system with a retention tank, chemical pumps, a huge carbon filter, a softener, etc. The water is basically stored in the retention tank until it's needed because that's where all the chemical action takes place. This allows the water to be exposed to colder than normal temps. because it's outside (120 gallon tank is hard to get under the house) and that colder than normal water comes into the water heater because of it. This temp. change cduring the winter an cause the popping.

One other thing I've noticed that can also explain it is low water pressure. Part of the water treatment system we have involves iron removal and the way the piping was done those iron deposits sometimes buildup in certain areas and it reduces our water pressure/volume and I have to snake that area of fittings 1 or 2 times yearly. I have noticed that when the popping is happening year round it is because the flow/pressure has diminished somewhat. Mineral buildup could cause the issue in your case because if you don't have full flow to the water heater it can do this. Later!

[SchemeFighter]

SchemeFighter, You obviousy have never had hard water. In hard water you are lucky to get 2 years out of elements. If you get 6 years out of the heater you are doing good. Greg

Technically yes I do have hard water. However; the mineral content is so low that you would likely scoff and/or disagree.

There is some lime in the water here but it is essentially enough to just over correct for the acid from organic decomposition. So the water here has a little lime and slightly base. I think it is almost optimal on the pH scale.

Water software salesman do sell water softeners in this area; however I really don’t think it is necessary because our water is not very hard. My parents 50-year-old plumbing barely has a visible calcium lime buildup on the cold water pipes; the hot water pipes have about 1 to 2 mm of buildup on the inside of the pipes. About the only problem we have with lime is the hot water seals have a tendency to calcify; though it generally takes a couple of years or more to cause problems.

So fortunately I am quite ignorant of the type (rate) of calcium buildups that many of you get.

Electric heating elements here last about 5-10 years; generally they burn out instead of calcifying. Hot water tanks will last 15 or 30 years if they are good ones and if the sacrificial rods are replaced periodically. I’ve never seen one fail here to do calcium buildup; the only ones I’ve seen fail here are from rust through.

One of the guys I used to work with; had a neighbor that blew up his house using an old rusted water heater as an air tank reservoir.

[momom]

I have a gas water heater that does the same thing. The guys are right about the junk in the water. I use a distiller in the kitchen and you cannot believe the junk in your water. It need cleaned every 10 -15 gallons of distilled drinking water that goes through it. I shudder to think whats accumulated in the water heater.....but follow their advice they've obviously dealt with this before. Good luck, momom

[oldfart]

Well folks just as an after-thought I thought I'd offer up some suggestions. When it comes time to install a new hot water heater...as soon as ya bring it home remove the elements and apply some Never-Sieze to the threads on the elements and put them back in. Never-Sieze is available at any auto-parts supply store. Next up..don't count on them cheap sockets that Lowes&Home Depot to get the elements out. Go to Sears..buy an approp. sized socket and grind off the "champher" on the socket so it doesn't slide off the element and gammahooch it. Then pull out that cheap plastic drain-valve and put in a good quality brass ball-valve and be sure and treat the threads with Never-Sieze. Now...quick-disconnects or flex-lines and drain and flush the hot water tank every few months. I've had some last an amazing long time..others failed entirely too soon. In any case make the job easy. Audie..the lazy Oldfart..