How to know if the water heater in the attic is leaking? (window, hot water heater)
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I have a water heater in the attic and I am just concerned that if it starts leaking how will I know. There is a pan under the water heater but I am not sure if that drains the water outside. I will have to check on that!
Is there any small device that I can place inside the pan which starts beeping or something whenever there is little water in the pan?
Yeah I need to see if the water in the pan goes anywhere or not! I have already purchased the device above and will put that device in the pan. Thanks!
Let us know what you think of it! You may have to install a new drain line. Use PVC and not a rubber hose or tube. Extend it out past the house so the water will not contact the house if it is in use and use a 90 degree elbow pointing down over the door or window.
You are correct to worry about this. I had some major damage in my home when the drain pan in the attic under an A/C unit shifted to a tilt for reasons that still haven't been determined. It just so happened that the water dripped down the back wall of a closet that was filled with clothes. The clothes obscured the fact that the wall was getting wet, so the leak wasn't discovered until the water seeped all the way out of the closet and could be felt in the carpeting in the bedroom.
We had to get new drywall in the closet and in the laundry room next door, new carpet pad over a huge area, the closet had to be repainted and some of the trim work had to be replaced. Huge industrial fans had to be run in the bedroom for a week and we still got some mold in the ceiling ductwork that had to be removed. Insurance paid for most of it, but my deductible was bad enough, not to mention all the work involved.
I now have a water detector (as linked to by azamsharp) up there next to the drain pan. I got mine at Ace Hardware. I check it regularly to make sure it's working, even though to reach it I have to go into the attic, which is just a crawl space -- pain in the you-know-what.
I also put a water detector underneath my hot water heater in the garage. Live and learn. For as little as those detectors cost, they could save some big bucks.
For all drain pans in an enclosed space like an attic, there should be a secondary drain line emptying out of the soffit area, by the front door or other area where it would be noticed. This does two things....one, insures that a plugged primary drainline does not cause damage, and two, informs you that you have a problem.
Yesterday I went up the attic to check the water heater. The water heater is standing in a pan but the pan does not have any pipes or anything. It is just a pan to collect water. Once, the water is full in the pan it will start dripping into the attic. I think this is just a very bad design.
This is why I ordered the following item. Still waiting for its arrival:
Yesterday I went up the attic to check the water heater. The water heater is standing in a pan but the pan does not have any pipes or anything. It is just a pan to collect water. Once, the water is full in the pan it will start dripping into the attic. I think this is just a very bad design.
This is why I ordered the following item. Still waiting for its arrival:
That was not a bad design, that was an installation error/omission. That pan should have been properly piped outside the home when it was built, or when the water heater was replaced last.
Did you have this home inspected before you bought it? I see you are in Houston. That is an issue your Inspector should have reported on, and is required by the Texas Inspectors Standards of Practice for inspections and reporting. If the Inspector did not I would speak to him/her about paying for a correction to have the pan properly piped to the outside.
I did hire an inspector for the home inspection before I bought the used house (2000) two years ago. The inspector did not report any problems.
Update: Just called my AC/Water Heater guy and he told me to check again and there should be some PVP (or something) pipe coming out of pan and going outside.
I will check again and post the results.
Thanks,
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