What Is That Rusty Water In My Water Heater Drain Pan?

"OK now we have a tank leak if it's not that means it's coming from somewhere else .. ."  - Bobby Crowder, Plumbing Expert

Have you seen water in your drain pan?  The pan that is under your water heater, the drain pan, is there to catch water that may have escaped your water heater. Plumbing expert, Bobby Crowder, The Family Plumber is on the show to help us out today!

Check out this episode of The Plumber Podcast to find out more...

For more information about The Family Plumber in Surprise, Arizona log on to www.callthefamilyplumber.com or check them out at www.checkapro.com.

 

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Podcast Episode Transcript:

 

Here are the check a pro radio show we get all kinds of questions and we got a plumbing question today so I asked my good friend Bobby Crowder the family plumber to join me here on the program hey Bobby how you doing buddy hey check a pro Joe how are you how are you I'm doing I'm doing great hey a question came in and I think I know the answer to this even though there may be multiple answers but the question was this from one of our listeners why is there rusty water in that pan that metal pan underneath my water heater what could that be hmm well not just rust it could be anything actually it could be you know water itself it could be dirty water making it look like rust it depends on where the locations at you know like said addicts or you know Texas has yeah they're installed in the attics in Arizona where they're in the garage and so they tend to get really dirty so um usually if there's any kind of liquid or any kind of water or anything that's in that pan there's something going on and usually most of the time it is a leaky water heater but you get a check it first you come out when you come out there check to see if you know if it's a gas water here put that little that front plate there and stick your fingers inside the inside where the gas control valve assemblies at and see if there's any water in there if there is OK now we have a tank leak if it's not that means it's coming from somewhere else so you want to jump up above see what's going on if there's any of the flex lines leaking a ball valve any of the connections or I've even seen somebody have a water line that's ramped to a fridge around the back and it wasn't visible until that little water line was just thinking down inside there it wasn't what it was not a water heater issue so now they're using it as a drain pan exactly Yep so you know be very cautious dream pans are great they've been out here in Arizona we didn't do them very often until recently probably about uh I want to say six or eight years ago they've kind of put them in you know wanting them put in per code some cities are different than others so Arizona's a little bit different than maybe some other states but now we don't do we don't install a water heater without a pan whatsoever now it has sure have a pan and honestly if it's in the garage or somewhere that's more outside ish if you will it's not as big of a deal but if it is inside a utility room maybe in the laundry room type thing which it could be well then yes you're definitely going to want to do that also the pressure relief valve isn't it possible that that could leak it does usually like technically you're supposed to exercise that that TMP valve every six months he does that no one really ever does that you know flip it on off and when you do if it hasn't been done for a while and you flip it on and you try to flip it off now you're now you're probably going to causally or it's going to drip out the main line you know the drain line of it you know itself or it's just going to drop out of that little Chrome handle and then that could cause an issue down below but you know something like that would be an easy fix you know replacement with that TP valve so you know something like that I'd be very I love doing stuff like this is a very I love investigating stuff you know going on the problem yeah oh I love it you know instead of just going OK I know what it is boom I know I like to go in there and hey what's going on here I just I love that kind of work I really who doesn't like a mystery right we all do all right the best thing to do is to get ahold of my friend Bobby Crowder the family plumber all is all of his information is in the description of this podcast hey bobby thanks for taking time out of your day buddy really appreciate it you bet thanks Joe.