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Strange noises from a water heater
shmokes:
My brother's water heater makes a noise, particularly when someone is using hot water, that sounds like someone is rolling up a sheet of bubble wrap inside the tank. It's an echoey pop-pop-pop. Really strange and pretty loud. Anybody have an idea what would cause this? I have this crazy idea in my head that water is boiling in there and making the water heater a giant pipe bomb. :)
ChadTower:
The pressure valve should save you from it being a bomb. He should test that valve, though, as they do fail. They're supposed to fail open but you never know...
DaOld Man:
Sounds like the bottom element is covered with mineral deposits.
Turn off power supply, allow to cool down. Turn off water supply. Drain water through drain valve (looks like a faucet) and garden hose to outside or drain area. (Open kitchen hot faucet to allow air in to tank to speed up draining.)
Remove bottom element, insert hose from wet/dry vac and suck out the deposits. (Using a wet/dry vac, not what you are probably thinking.)
This can be a messy job, plastic sheet or pans can be a nice thing to have.
Get out all the gunk you can, re-install element (may need a new rubber gasket), close water drain valve, open water supply, allow tank to fully fill (open hot water faucet in kitchen or bath to let air out), then turn power back on.
If it's a gas water heater, then Im not sure how to clean it, look for a drain plug on the bottom of the tank.
MonMotha:
Second DaOld Man. If you get just a little hot water then it's cold again, that's another telltale sign of this problem. The deposits mess with the thermostat readings and cause excessive cycling as well as premature shut-off of the heating element. Basically, only the top element runs.
As a general maintenance practice, you should drain a couple gallons off the bottom every few months using the drain valve at the bottom. That helps remove settled crud from the water before it can "stick" to much.
Note that water heaters make a muffled popping noise during normal operations due to the rapidly changing water temperatures combined with the internal temperature gradient. Nothing to be concerned over.
SavannahLion:
Water heaters can indeed become bombs, but not like a pipe bomb, they're more like exploding rockets. The damn things shoot up in the air blasting through any floors between it and the sky. If the house doesn't turn into splinters, there's usually a gaping hole where the water heater exited the home.
What's funny is that people today don't believe that that sort of thing happens and the "myth" was actually a featured in Mythbusters.
Here's an old video from sometime in the early 40's that illustrates how bad it was back then.
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