I was in the garage yesterday wrenching when I heard a loud crashing sound, like items falling off a shelf or overhead storage. I raced inside thinking a cabinet had fallen, my wife rushed outside thinking something happened with me in the garage, and my 16 yo son even stopped playing video games to investigate the sound. Nothing was out of place inside or outside the home. Could the 13 year old water heater have failed internally, making a loud sound? I don't see any leaks and the tank isn't distorted. It's an AO Smith GVR 50 100 natural gas.

Coincidently my wife thinks the hot water isn't what it's been of late. I bumped the temp setting a bit yesterday afternoon to compensate. I showered today at max setting and it's comfortable when is used to be uncomfortably hot. Today the output temp at the kitchen sink is 121F (furthest point), the master bath 134, kid's bathroom is 133. I haven't checked temps at the clothes washer nor the tank discharge.

Should I drain it and check for foreign objects, besides hard water deposits?

Given that it's 13 years old I'd replace it anyway. I've seen hot water heaters fail and it's not fun to deal with. Especially if there are items stored around it. Average life span is 10-15 years anyway.

Our first one made low groaning sounds that vibrated through the walls for a few seconds after the using the hot water for a period of time like taking a shower. Though it seem to work fine, it was replaced on warranty.

The replacement was about 5 years old before it started leaking after the internals ruptured. No noises or warning beforehand. The repair guy said that deposits affect the way the water is heated and may be overheating it.

Here's what came out of the second one.
Not sure what it is but it feels like jelly.

I've had one fail, and there were no noises involved. It simply sprung a leak. No indications until water started coming out from under the door to the water heater closet. It was 15 years old, and we had planned to replace it a few months later anyway. It just decided to move up the time table.

Had one give up that made sounds like you were crinkling a steel oil can for a while before it finally sprung a leak.

Well, I discovered what the sound was.

One of the two springs in the main garage failed, making the loud noise.

As for the water heater, it seems to be maintaining.

Glad it wasn’t the H2O heater...but it’s three years past it’s life expectancy...

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
Well, I discovered what the sound was.

One of the two springs in the main garage failed, making the loud noise.

As for the water heater, it seems to be maintaining.

One maintenance task with water heaters is every year to drain at least two bucket fulls of water or until the water is clear.

Sediments fall to the bottom and collect around the heating elements making for inefficient heating.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:

One of the two springs in the main garage failed, making the loud noise.

I've heard that noise more than once. It will wake you up...

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
Well, I discovered what the sound was.

One of the two springs in the main garage failed, making the loud noise.

As for the water heater, it seems to be maintaining.

I've heard that broken spring sound before. It is loud. Only about 40% as loud as Mrs DF driving through the garage door.

Didn't sound like a water heater issue to me. Recently my neighbors inherited his Mom's house. Had me down to look at things before the remodel. I did a lot of work for her over the years, but when I went down, I found a nipple and plug in the port for a relief valve on the water heater. Holy Shit!!!! I didn't do that. Apparently she had a man friend that was "helping" her out. Stupid ass! That could have been catastrophic!!

^^^^^ That video is a great display what can happen, I've seen worse though, where a water heater flattened a 3 story apartment building. Water heaters should not be tinkered with!!

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
Well, I discovered what the sound was.

One of the two springs in the main garage failed, making the loud noise.

As for the water heater, it seems to be maintaining.

Yeah, that's not a normal failure sound for a water heater.

Normal is when the bottom becomes lined with sediment (calcium) and it makes popping sounds while heating.
The sediment acts as insulation, so the metal gets hotter than normal, stressing the metal and here comes the failure.

Well, Russ, I'm glad is wasn't your water heater.
Now for my water heater story from a few days ago.
My wife woke me up on Christmas morning around 6:30 AM.
Oddly, that's about the same time that the "other" event happened in
Nashville, but as of yet I haven't connected the two.

My wife informed me that the water heater was leaking. Our son-in-law had
shut off the water supply to the heater, so I went downstairs, checked the situation, and realized
that the tank had obviously failed. I shut off the breaker at the fuse box, and
came to the realization that we had all six kids home, along with a son-in-law and
almost two year old granddaughter with no hot water for the near future. We called our regular
plumber, obviously got the answering machine (one man operation-he installed our last water heater
not quite 12 years ago). Called another plumber, who called us back, but said it would be Monday (today)
before he could get a new water heater from the supply house. Then called a much larger plumbing//HVAC, etc.
service in Nashville, and they did have water heaters in their warehouse. They'd have a plumber out to our house
before 5 pm. Unfortunately, the large company called us around 2:30 pm, and informed us that all their service techs
use a company AT&T Ipad & phone, and she hadn't been able to get in touch with any of their techs all day
(because of the "other" event that occurred in town), so no plumber.
Finally, she called back & said she had gotten ahold of one who could be here the next morning. Yes, Dustin showed up
around 8:20 am on Saturday morning 12/26. Great guy, he got to work. He got everything installed in about 2.5 hours,
but after filling up the new tank, the new heater wasn't heating (of course). He checked things, called one of the
older plumbers (who told him that sometimes it just doesn't work right), and finally realized that one of the elements
was defective. He left, came back, installed a new element, and things started working!! I looked at the defective
element, we both laughed because it was stamped "made in mexico". Finally, after five hours, the installation was complete.
My wife asked Dustin why he thought the water heater failed. Same as my answer, he said because it was Christmas morning
& we had all the kids home...

Oddly, the "other event" in Nashville actually caused us to not have hot water for almost 36 hours, because of its disruption
of the AT&T network. But, as I said, Dustin was a great guy, he had noticed a couple items near the water heater and asked
me if I shot. I said not as much as I used to. Then he pulled up a pic of a Glock 17 he'd just finished putting together
with an Olight weapon light & a Leopold sight. We discussed the positives of the Olight company, etc. Then discussed single stack
Sigs (my favorites).

Sorry about the long-winded post, but I thought this was a good place to talk about my recent water heater experience.
By the way, I got a new water heater for Christmas!!!

Congrats on the great Christmas gift! What a convenient time to fail. You need to be careful and not buy things that have Christmas expiration dates!

craglawnmanor... assuming Dustin turned on the power before filling the tank with water?

Craglawn, my water heater did the same a couple years ago on Christmas Eve and I replaced 12/26. I had even gotten quotes the prior summer due to its age but did not replace.

As to the door springs,we had one go before and it is one helluva noise.

I had a hot water heater make a faint, high-pitched, Mores-code-type noise that I could barely hear at night. The wife said that I was hearing things.
Come to find out that calcium deposits were causing the pressure relief valve to slowly back out/open. Sure enough, a couple days later the valve let loose.

They can sometimes.


I'm your water heater