Water heater leaking - question
LOML called me at the office this morning to say that the water heater is leaking. She said it is a very slow drip and the pan with a drain is easily keeping up with it. Unfortunately we've got commitments which will keep us both busy until Sat.
Does anyone have experience with leaking water heaters? Is this something that I've got to replace ASAP or can it wait 3 days? My choices are pay $300 for installation today/tomorrow, or install it myself Sat morning, or install it myself tonight starting at 9 PM. What would you do? BTW, the water heater is in the attic over the second floor so a complete failure would be terrible.
I am not a licensed plumber
Having said that, I have had experience of leaking water heaters in several different houses. If the leak is slow and small, you will probably be all right until Saturday. It may already have been leaking for a while.
How did your wife discover the leak? Did she go in the attic or did something leak onto your ceiling? There should be more than just a pan if the WH is in the attic. It should have a drain to the outside of the house to prevent the catastrophe.
Whatever you do, don't shake or push on the WH unless you're ready to get it out of there right then. These slow leaks are often "slow" because a lot of gunk is sort of sealing the bad place and moving the WH might unstick the gunk (how's that for a technical explanation?).:D
If it were me, I'd wait until Saturday. (Insert disclaimer at this point.)