Why do water heaters....

[davek]

Why do water heaters fail at 1 AM Saturday mornings?
Why does the gate valve that should shut off water to the water heater not work after just sitting there unused for 15 years? I have to shut off water to the whole house.
Amazingly, one of our cats alerted us to this before it leaked much.

 

[Perplexed]

Those things have a sentient aspect. They just know when to fail.

How did your cat alert you?

 

[JD8]

My last one failed at 11 pm on a Friday......glad we caught it before we went to bed.

 

[Okie4570]

Gate valves should be eliminated from existence worldwide, even brand new ones sitting on the shelves. They should be gathered up, melted back down to make more ball valves.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

There is circuitry developed by the NSA and CIA under the MK Ultra project in your water heater that senses the most inconvenient time to fail. Water heaters made after 2012 have another sensor that senses low funds in your savings account to also determine when your water heater should fail.

 

[Bocephus123]

It's not Rat Patrol... it's Cat Patrol

 

[dancer4life]

Why do water heaters fail at 1 AM Saturday mornings?
Why does the gate valve that should shut off water to the water heater not work after just sitting there unused for 15 years? I have to shut off water to the whole house.
Amazingly, one of our cats alerted us to this before it leaked much.

Yea, ain’t that the truth. We came to our studio two weeks ago in the morning and went in the bathroom in both men’s and women’s bathroom was flooded. The hot water tank that was up in the ceiling above the two bathrooms had failed. It was just pouring water through the ceiling. I’m not sure how old it was but we have been there 26 years and it was there when we moved in. I have another small one underneath our kitchen sink that is rusted all around the bottom and it’s starting to leak, so I am looking for a little 6 or 10 gallon water heater to replace it with.

 

[User_3155]

Lime scale is a real thing and makes valves of all kinds not worky, but gate valves especially. If you exercise them occasionally to keep the lime from building up, then the packing nut leaks. There is no winning on this stuff. Ball valves might give you a shot to get it closed once or twice. I guess cats are good for something!!!

 

[TinkerTanker]

They sure are sentient. And don't talk about getting any money around your car or appliances either. They'll hear and give up the ghost too.

 

[Poke78]

Why do water heaters fail at 1 AM Saturday mornings?
Why does the gate valve that should shut off water to the water heater not work after just sitting there unused for 15 years? I have to shut off water to the whole house.
Amazingly, one of our cats alerted us to this before it leaked much.

This is the universal constant which also causes smoke alarms to start chirping about their failing battery in the wee hours of the morning.