brown color and water spraying

hi all,

i'm new around here but noticed today that my hot water in my house is coming out spraying and changing different pressures. it's also having brown discoloration.

i'm not sure how old my hot water heater is, but its at least 6 years old. i looked at it and didn't notice anything different about it.

here's a video of my problem

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rAU6t0uEF0"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rAU6t0uEF0[/ame]

ya'll think this is a water heater problem or more of a pipe issue?

any help appreciated!

It looks like you have a bad thermostat on the heater and the water is overheating and causing steam. It can be dangerous. Have a plumber come out and have it repaired.

So the overheating causes the sputtering? What do you think causes the brown discoloration?

Thanks alot

I lowered the temperature on the thermostat and the brown water and sputtering seems to have improved... Not sure what that means.

sime0n said:

hi all,

i'm new around here but noticed today that my hot water in my house is coming out spraying and changing different pressures. it's also having brown discoloration.

i'm not sure how old my hot water heater is, but its at least 6 years old. i looked at it and didn't notice anything different about it.

here's a video of my problem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rAU6t0uEF0

ya'll think this is a water heater problem or more of a pipe issue?

any help appreciated!

Click to expand...

To me it would make more sense that'd be a pipe issue. Almost as if someone turned the main valve (water) off to do some work and then turned it back on. Could there have been some work done around the neighborhood by the city or county? This is just the opinion of a novice. Like the other poster suggested, however, it'd be better if you called a plumber out.

Do you have a water Softener?

Failure of the resin tank can allow the zeolite to enter the system.
If so bypass the softener. Then flush your system, maybe even drain the water heater.

Tank exchange systems like Culligan that comes and exchanges a tank ona scheduled interval can also cause this.


from wikipedia
Types of ion exchange materials[edit]

Ion exchange resins are organic polymers containing anionic functional groups to which the dications (Ca++) bind more strongly than monocations (Na+). Inorganic materials called zeolites also exhibit ion-exchange properties. These minerals are widely used in laundry detergents. Resins are also available to remove carbonate, bi-carbonate and sulphate ions which are absorbed and hydroxide ions released from the resin.

The brown could also be the sediment in the bottom of the tank being disturbed by the higher pressure in the tank.