fallen water heater (2025 Update)

My electric water heater advertised it had a glass liner, so of course something like happened to you would worry me. But before I got rid of the second one, I cut it open and into pieces. (I think that was partly, originally, to make it easier to carry upstairs. I had imagined, mistakenly, that because of sediment, it was heavier than when I slid it down the stairs.)

The glass liner in my water heater wasn't what I would call glass. It's vinyl, with I guess glass dust or glass particles in it. It was too smooth to cut myself on, too smooth to feal anything, actually.

It was 1/4" thick and it was hard to dislodge from the metal shell. I thought the material would be useful, so eventually I peeled it away from the metal, but it was not easy.

I had found it hard to believe that it was like drinking-glass or window-glass glass inside and it's not. If those existed, how could they even ship them without many of them breaking? You may want to check with the maker of our particular WH, but I'll bet they are all the same. That they couldn't break if you tried to break them. I googled some and they do say glass-lined as if it's glass. I don't believe it. How would they even apply it? I think they are trying to give an image. or something. I would call the maker of your WH and ask for the technical department and ask them. Or just call a plumber or two. Call at 4 or

4:30, when they've finished most of their work and they have time to talk. Most will be happy to talk to you.

I don't see any other possible problem either. Even i;f somehow it was saltwater, just rinse it off well and if salt water got inside, connect it temporarily to water but not electricity and flush it thoroughly. "Over time, high levels of saltwater can cause damage to plumbing, appliances, cooling systems that use water, and water heaters." This is from New Orleans. They know a lot about floods.

Even if an inlet or outlet pipe "rusted" through, would probably still work and the worst would be you wouldn't get water. You can worry about that if it happens. The other person who answered chose a user name designed to make him look stupid and he has succeeded, so i wouldn't give much weight to anything he says.

Now that I've ansewred you, you tell us, How did it fall over? Inventory? Bought for your home but not yet installed?

Secomnd, despite what some water systems may cause, I had only about 3 or 4 tablespoons of sediment in the bottom. Maybe 3/8" inch, nowhere near the amount they warn you about, 4 inches or so, to reach the heating element or to clog the TPV valve. This was after 10 or more years. And it's deeper in the center, because it's curved, so it would have taken 150 years to clog the heater, given my water supply (which is from reservoirs, from rain.)

The last water heater, like the previous one, I bought at Sears and brought home on the trunk and rear seat of my convertible. After I took it to the basement, I opened the box and found it had been crushed on top and one of the pipes was about 5^ off vertical and the other was about 10. I could have returned it, but it meant dragging it up a flight of stairs, and then the nuisance of loading the car and waiting at sears while they did a bit of paper work. So I kept it. Didn't use flexible pipe, just sort of forced it in place, and soldered it. 10 years, so far so good.

The house came with an AO Smith heater, and I tried to find one by the same company so the input and output pipes woud be in the same place. Ended up buying at Sears, which probably had them made by AO Smith.

I've bene here 41 years and the house was 4 years old when I bought it. I bought a smaller one for my replacement, because I live alone, and it would have been fine for showers, even if there were 2 of us, but for baths, even with the crummy mini bathtub** I have, by the time the bathtub was full, especially if I added and overflowed just a little, to keep the water hot, I was out of hot water. My 3rd WH was back to the original size.

**It looks like a fullsize bathtub until you get in it, and I'm not a big guy, but when lying down, my rib cage, which like othe ribcages has no fat on it, reaches to the same level (or a half inch less), as the top of the tub. I should have replaced it decades ago, to what they now call a soaker tub. Probably would have needed an even bigger water heater, but I don't waste many other world resources.

My apartment back in Brooklyn, NY, in a 1930 building, was in a luxury building when built. Apartments ranged from studios (6 out of 49) to

1-BR, 2-BR, and 3-BR with maid's room. I had one of the latter. It also had 3 bathrooms, one off the main bedroom with a shower only , and the other two with tub/showers. The tubs were so big that I could literally float in them with only about 1 square inch of my tush touching the bottom. The water valves were on the side, so I could reach them wihout using my toes. I miss that tub. I had installed the speaker board, with wooofer and tweeter, from a 1930's radio, in the ceiling of the bathroom and I glued a volume control to the side of the toilet, reachable when on the toilet or in the tub. I either listened to the radio, or turned my TV to face the mirror on the closet door and adjusted it to relect towards the toilet or tub. I put thumbtacks into the carpet, where to put the door, one for the toilet and one for the tub. I had to remove the speakers when I left, but they are on the ceiling of my current bathroom.