Why do water heaters....

[davek]

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

How did your cat alert you?

We were just getting to bed and the cat was standing in front of the hall closet where the water heater is, meowing. There was just a tiny bit of water peeking out from under the door, but that triggered him. If we'd not seen it before going to bed there would have been water everywhere this morning. Last night though it as easy to contain and re-direct down the drain. The water was running out the side access panel and most of it wasn't making it to the drain.

 

[Snattlerake]

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.

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.



I learned a long time ago to never ever talk about any monetary windfall in front of the water heater, vehicles, or major appliances. We go waaaay out into the back yard to discuss money issues.

 

[mr ed]

Gosh your lucky, mine always fail on a holiday weekend

 

[dennishoddy]

Gosh your lucky, mine always fail on a holiday weekend

Our PVC waterline that runs 3/10 mile from the well and 129' uphill always fails during Christmas, Thanksgiving, dead of winter in a snow storm or other significant holidays.
The azzhole that put it in used low pressure pipe. It's going to cost thousands to replace with PEX.

 

[Podman]

When I built my house I put a floor drain next to the water heater also a
drain where the washer/dryer is. The water heaters haven't failed yet!

 

[C_Hallbert]

True story: The thermocouple failed on our propane gas water heater about 10 years ago during July. It was an older heater and I couldn’t find a replacement. My wife and I took cold showers until just before Thanksgiving. She would get mad every night when she had to get under the cold water. I’d tell her that Indians used to jump in rivers and creeks when they needed to clean off and since she was Choctaw, she needed to acclimate herself. I have to admit that sometimes I procrastinate al little.

 

[AKmoose]

Changed mine yesterday, man they have gone up! Thought the thermocouple in the old one was bad so changed it, burner came on for about 3 minutes and went out again so I figured I'd better try and find my thermocouple tester from my old RV repairing days, sure enough, bad gas valve. Unit was almost 15 years old so thought it best to go ahead and bite the bullet, 40 gallon propane A.O. Smith. It sure is nice to not have to take a cold shower like the last couple days.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

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

They are set to do that at 02:37:42 Local Time. That time was determined to create the maximum amount of sleep cycle disruption for Married people, single people and cohabitating people. The NSA has determined it has an added benefit of causing injury and death to sobriety challenged individuals who use ladders to reach the offending smoke alarm. I know this because I saw it on the Amazon series "Jack Ryan" in the outtakes. Another added benefit it disrupts the late hours dalliances of single folks seeking to "hook up" after the bar closes and prevents pregnancies.