A Hillyard homeowner in north Spokane called about water on the floor around the water heater and hot water that ran out well before it used to. Both symptoms pointed the same direction, and once we had the covers off the tank there was no question about what had to happen next.
The Call
The request came in as a leak and not much hot water. A leak on its own can be a fitting, a connector or a relief valve, and those are repairs. Short hot water on an electric tank can be a failed element, which is also a repair. When the two show up together it usually means the tank itself is involved, but that is worth confirming before anyone quotes a replacement.
What We Found
We ran a full leak search, checking the connections, the relief valve and the drain before touching the tank. Nothing above the shell accounted for the water. Pulling the heating element access covers showed the source: a crack in the tank itself, hidden behind the insulation where nobody would ever see it from outside. That also explained the hot water. Water escaping through a crack at that level keeps the lower element working against a moving target.
A cracked tank cannot be patched. The old unit was an A.O. Smith electric 50 gallon, and it had reached the end of it.
The Replacement
We shut off the supply and drained all 50 gallons out of the old tank before moving it, which matters in a closet install where there is nowhere for a spill to go. The new unit is a 50 gallon Bradford White electric water heater, set on an insulated base board so the tank is not sitting straight on the slab.
The house is plumbed in CPVC, so the hot and cold sides were transitioned with a stainless adapter and new corrugated stainless steel connectors rather than reusing the old flex lines. We put a new full port brass ball valve on the cold inlet so the next person who needs to isolate this heater can actually do it. The tank is strapped with a seismic restraint kit, and we installed a new thermal expansion tank to take the pressure spike when the water heats and the system has nowhere to push back to.
Once it was filled we purged the air out of the tank and the hot side, then leak tested every joint before closing up. The old heater left with us. Start to finish it was one visit.
Before and After
Materials and Equipment
- 50 gallon Bradford White electric water heater
- New thermal expansion tank
- New full port brass ball valve on the cold inlet
- New corrugated stainless steel water heater connectors
- Stainless CPVC transition adapter
- Seismic restraint strap kit
- R10 insulated water heater base board
- Old water heater removed and disposed of
Warranty
The tank carries its manufacturer warranty, and the installation is covered by our workmanship warranty.
Serving Hillyard and North Spokane
We work throughout Hillyard and the north side, from Market Street and Wellesley up past Francis and across to Regal and Havana. A lot of 99217 has electric water heaters tucked into hallway and pantry closets, and a closet is the worst place for a tank to fail quietly. If yours is leaving rust marks, puddling at the base or running short on hot water, our water heater team can tell you whether it is an element, a valve or the tank. We also install tankless water heaters where the space and the electrical service suit them, and we offer financing on full replacements. Our Raptor Titanium membership also covers an annual water heater flush and inspection, priority scheduling and a five year warranty on plumbing installations.
Need a water heater looked at?
Water on the floor and hot water running out early both point the same direction. We will find out which it is before anyone quotes you a tank.