Help me understand what went wrong with this water heater installation

[Kevin Smith]

My parents had a new water heater installed last week. It did not go well. About 1 hour after the plumbers completed the work this connection separated and flooded the basement.

Are there any people on this forum that can tell me if this was done properly or what went wrong? Wrong type pipe? Wrong glue? Didn't use cement?

Thank you

 

[voletl]

There are many things wrong with what I'm looking at in the pictures you posted.
The main issue though is that the plastic pipe which is CPVC that they used is plastic and cannot be that close to the water heater vent because it will damage the plastic piping with thr heat also it looks like the pipe was under tension and that's the reason why it pulled out of the female fitting.

I do not know how you feel about suing or lawsuits but this is right here the perfect example of when to sue this was a piss poor installation that is against code done improperly by unprofessional contractors you can receive damages plus more from the looks of this.

 

[Kevin Smith]

Thank you for the quick response. Yes, it is a sad situation. I appreciate your insights and it helps me quite a bit. My parents are aging and the company has not be very helpful or even mildly sympathetic.

One of the other welded copper seams on the vertical pipe that connects from the main overhead line to the water heater is also leaking (small drip) since the installation and you can just look at it an see that the installers were trying to "bend/torque" the pipe to get it to fit to the water heater. It just makes me sad.

My parents are going to call a different plumber and have them come out to assess and repair the plumbing connections. It pains me to see how unapologetic and unhelpful the company seems to be with them so far.

 

[havasu]

I find it hard to believe a licensed plumber installed that crap. Have you confirmed he has a contractor's license? If so, start making some calls and demand he fix his mess.

 

[havasu]

What state are you in?

 

[Kevin Smith]

My parents live in Georgia.

 

[frodo]

Dude
Go to your local plumbing supply house and buy
1- 3/4 [ fip] female x 3/4 [mip] male x 12'' long water heater flex connector
and a
3/4 x 3'' threaded water heater nipple

take that plastic **** out and dispose of it in the plumbers yard that installed it

using pipe dope, NOT TEFLON TAPE install the nipple in the top of the water heater
install the flex line on the copper line and the nipple
the flex connector has a rubber washer, DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN,,

 

[mind.of.hutch]

In most states. The pipe coming off a water heater must be copper for the first 18 inches then you can switch to PEX. Also it is better to use a die electric fitting right from the water heater. Must be 3/4 piping,

 

[chiraldude]

The root cause of this failure was putting a short piece of CPVC between two solid pieces of pipe. CPVC is plastic and will bend to take up misalignment but not in such a short section. If there had been 3' of plastic instead of 6" it wouldn't have snapped. Also there was soooo much excess glue in the broken section. That probably contributed to weakening the pipe in that spot.

Looks like the "plumber" used whatever leftover stuff he had in his trunk. I don't think the heat from the vent was a cause of the break but that is definitly a code violation to connect plastic pipe directly to the tank nipple. if he had just used the copper flex connector that frodo mentioned, it would have lasted till the water heater wore out. But that would have cost him an extra $15

 

[wood4d]

i think the expansion tank is done with plastic too. when it fails and fills with water those plastic parts will break also

 

[Richard Gavle]

If a licensed plumber did that, then this homeowner handyman (me) needs to apply for a masters license. Absolutely shoddy workmanship along with improper materials.

To me the really big worry has not even been addressed yet, if they did this with the water lines what did they do with the gas? Seriously IMO until someone qualified has verified the integrity of the gas supply you should probably turn off the gas to the unit.

 

[TomFOhio]

Call your local plumbing inspector and get them involved. Probably no permit taken out on this. When you run an expansion
tank out on a tee like they did it should be strapped up somehow. That will probably break in time. If this is a plumbing company,
then the inspector will contact them if you get him in on it.

 

[jwwing]

I agree with almost every piece of advice given to you BUT - you knew that was coming - cpvc is very capable to withstand the location and the method used to install the hot water heater. The copper pipe also is capable to withstand the attempts to bend it. The cpvc broke because it was subjected to extreme torsion while it was being bent in an attempt to bend the copper pipe to get it in place after the cpvc was installed.

I am not arguing that it should have been done that way, only that the materials used are perfectly capable of withstanding the usage except for the abuse they were afforded trying to make them do something that they cannot - which is bend. Copper can be bent, but it is not designed to be - it is rigid. And unless something is terribly wrong with the gas or fuel oil water heater, the temperature of the flue should never get anywhere near that which the cpvc will fail at under pressures up to around 300 psi! But still - No, do not install the water heater using any kind of plastic or rigid copper unless you wish to deal with fun like that.

All of that said, the solution is flexible copper pipes - about 18" long with two female connectors already installed. One 3/4" male on the water heater, one on the supply line, one on the hot water output and one on the hot water line to the house; all 3/4" male. The two flexible pipes solve the problem. no more worrying about vibration, leaking, BS, some wiggle-room for replacement unit - the only way to go IMHO.

 

[Kevin Smith]

Thanks for all the information. I should have mentioned I live in Wisconsin and my parents and the water heater in question live in Georgia. They had a local big box store do the installation as part of the purchase. I was out of town all weekend and haven't had a chance to hear what the latest is. Much appreciated.

 

[jwwing]

I am willing to bet that the method that was used to install the original hot water heater was legit at the time and where they are located.

The installation looks professionally done (the original) and the replacement was botched to avoid the all-to-tempting desire to 'get by' when the new water heater did not match-up with the old one. It looks like it was less than two inches different. So it is tempting to make-it-fit, but it puts too much stress on the plastic - and they should have realized it. But it looks like they attempted to bend the rigid copper while the plastic was connected and that was what broke the plastic pipe. Otherwise, it would have taken several weeks or even months before it separated - I'll bet these guys have been getting away with this for a long time and only got caught this time. A few more folks have had or are going to have the same problem soon.