Burst hot water system

[snowyskiesau]

Just as well I stay up late to read these forums, it's let me find out now that that my
hot water system has burst rather than letting it spew hot water all night.

Turned off power and water. Call the landlord in the morning, after a cold shower

It's a Rheem 80 litre electric unit, how long should these last? The landlord replaced this one, seems about 10 years ago.

[Buzzer]

I would have thought 8 to 10 years is about normal if using good quality water.

[RufflyRustic]

sounds around about right. Ours died last weekend and I think it only lasted between 10-12 years too.

cheers
Wendy

[snowyskiesau]

Landlord checked his records (he asked his wife) and it was just on 10 years ago he replaced it.
The one previous to that was also 10 years, just before I moved in.

This new one should see me through until I retire to the country.

[DavidG]

Now you have me scared.
Ours is 15 yrs old.

[Barry_White]

Now you have me scared.
Ours is 15 yrs old.

You should worry mine is 23 years old but mine is a Braemar and it isn't mains pressure but only has had country rainwater in it and has solar, slow combustion and electricity connected to it.

[tameriska]

Can I top that?

I am pretty sure that my "hot water service" is original.
I know the history of the house since 1970, and the hot water service hasnt been replaced or altered since then, so that makes it 37 years old.
The house was built in 1952, so if it is original, that makes it 55 years old .

The hot water service is a tank fed gravity storage system, run only by a Wellstood wood stove (original)
So, if we dont light the fire, cold water showers

[snowyskiesau]

Removing the old system yesterday showed no obvious signs of damage.
When we removed the fittings, there was some scale and what looked like rust.
I'm sure the mains pressure in the killer.

[Barry_White]

Removing the old system yesterday showed no obvious signs of damage.
When we removed the fittings, there was some scale and what looked like rust.
I'm sure the mains pressure in the killer.

Geoff

I think you could be right about the mains pressure. When I lived in Sydney we had a Rheem mains pressure tank and it only lasted about 10 years.

I think you will find that they are a steel tank with what they call a glass coat on the inside and I think this glass coat eventually breaks down and then the steel then rapidly corrodes and with mains pressure quickly starts to leak.

The Braemar tank that I have is a copper tank and by only having soft water going in to it I reckon it will never corrode out. I also have a copper cold water cistern tank for the showers which I had to take out to repair the float valve and it is as good as the day it was installed 23 years ago.

[snowyskiesau]

Well the new system is installed.
It's a Rheem 80 litre, exactly the same as the last one, except for the size. Why do they do that?
The diameter of the replacement is 45mm bigger so the inlet and outlet pipe needed trimming and a new hole had to be cut in the floor for the overflow.

Just as well I have a good landlord who's also a plumber.