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That moment when a plumber in Rio Rancho showed me why my water heater was 5 years past dead

He just tapped the side with a wrench and this rust dust poured out, then he said 'that tank is basically a tea kettle waiting to blow.' Has anyone else had a pro give you that one obvious clue you'd been missing for months?
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2 Comments
juliagonzalez
juliagonzalez10d agoMost Upvoted
Oh man I don't know if I'd go that far. Plumbers love to make things sound way worse than they are so you'll drop a couple grand on a new unit. That rust dust is pretty normal for any water heater that's a few years old. I've had three different water heaters in my life and every single one of them had some rust when you tapped the side. The real question is whether it's actually leaking or making weird noises. A little sediment buildup is not the same as a tank about to explode. Plus you can always just flush it out yourself and buy yourself another year or two easy. I feel like they scare people into replacing stuff that's still got plenty of life left in it.
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emma_burns96
@juliagonzalez honestly you're not wrong... plumbers gotta make a living I guess but they definitely push the panic button too hard.
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