Our new water heater is making weird noises and it's leaking. What's wrong?
Question:Our last water heater completely detereorated. It was breaking off in pieces inside and one day it decided to leak a whole bunch of hot water so we had to turn off all the water and gas and buy a new one. Our friend (who used to work at sears doing installations) helped us install our new heater. It's a GE. I'm not exactly sure what he did but I know that where the top two pipes connect to the water heater he used Plumber's Putty around the connections. We got back at 6 tonight at tried to use the hot water but all our faucets started sputtering and groaning and then a huge surge of water comes out, runs for awhile and then sputters and then runs. None of the hot water is working. Our toilet isn't flushing right. When we went to check the water heater it was leaking at the top, mostly from where the pipe with the blue (cold water?) is connected. We turned off the gas and the water since we weren't quite sure what it was doing. Help? More info advailable upon request.
Answers:
I just reread your question. It sounds like your friend really *beeped* things up! Good heavens! It is obvious he turned off the water in order to install the water heater. This is why there was a bunch of air in your pipes. It also sounds like he didn't use Teflon tape when he attached the pipes... and thus the leaking. The reason there was no hot water is because he didn't turn the water onto the tank before he left! It sounds like he didn't know what he was doing! Was he drinking beer or smoking pot when he did the work? Good heavens! I can't believe he lit the pilot light with no water in the hot water tank! The tank should have come with instructions. Read the instructions and redo the job yourself! What a nightmare!
You should drain the tank down a bit after turning the gas and water off... then loosen the two nuts on the top... remove every last drop of plumbers putty <which is used for installing drains in sinks and ect.> make sure they are all cleaned up...there should be a rubber seal inside make sure it is clean too. put back together... tighten well...turn water back on...run sinks upstairs to vent the air...then light the pilot. once it gets hot it will be under pressure...check for leaks.. if leaks stop...call friend ...invite him/her over...once they arrive...extend index finger and poke square in the eye... if leaks persist...call a plumber. They should have used Teflon tape...or ...pipe compound on the threaded parts...not plumbers putty.
sounds like there may be air in the pipes ,,check the fittinf on the cold water, and stop that leak then you can let it run all the air outa it i have held the safty valve open till water starts coming from it then fire up the heater make sure the saftey valve is not leaking if it were me id turn on the hot water farthest from my water heater just alittle so the air is forced out while your new water heater fills up hope this helps ,check the safty valve from time to time and put a pipe on it that runs to a drain watch it a cople days to adjust the temp.
ouch, you need to either use copper "sweat joints", threaded joints, or compression fittings. No disrespect to your friend but plumbers putty is not used in that situation. It is for like putting faucets onto a sink, not the joints or connections.
Noise could be from operating it dry (will burn it out), toilet could be low water pressure from the leak.
If your friend turned off "all" the water to the house, then that would explain why your toilet was having problems, because you don't have "hot water" running to the toilet. As far as the leak, your friend obviously doesn't know how to properly install piping with liquids inside. You don't use "putty" but it was probably pipe joint compound, or as it is called in the trade, "pipe dope". The connections can be tightened, and check if that solves the problem. If not, you might want to call a qualified plumber to ascertain what needs to be done to correct the situation. "Friends" who say they can do something, but can't, are what keeps plumbers working! Good luck!
You need a plumber.
Bottom line----your friend didn't do a few things correctly.
Call a plumber, it won't break you. Less than $75 and he'll have you fixed and happy.
http://appliancequickfix.com/
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