How to Stop a Leaking Hot Water Heater?

You have done about all that you can do by turning off the power and water supply. You might try putting various pots/pans/etc under it to catch the runoff

1. Electric water heater keeps tripping the breaker?

2 things. Your just may need a new breaker. If it keeps tripping, then that's the culprit. You can get by just fine with just one element, hot water will not be as long lasting but you can get by. Do not keep re-setting the breaker, that is dangerous and could start a fire. Get it checked out!.

2. Plumbing Help Needed for Water Heater - Release Valve?

Release valve should never be open. But open the hot on the sinks and showers a little to get the air out

3. Water heater leak from bottom of tank?

My heart goes out to you. Believe me, I understand what you are going through. The first thing you need to do is shut off the water supply to the water heater. Immediately go to your electrical service panel and find the breaker for the water heater. It will be a double one. Trip it. Now, back to the water heater water supply. Look for an isolation valve near the water heater that definitely leads to the inlet pipe of your heater. Shut that valve. If you do not have a separate valve for the heater, shut off the house's main supply at the water meter. Next, you need to drain the water heater before it floods the area. By the way, your water heater is dead. Open a cold and hot water faucet on one of the sinks. Now, you should see a fitting near the water heater that will accept a garden hose. Connect a hose to this fitting and run the other end outside or to a drain. Open the water heater drain valve and let the water flow out. Okay, you've done the necessary damage control. If you found an isolation valve for the water heater, with this valve shut off you can restore water service to the rest of the house. Just check the valve when you turn on the water to make sure it is not leaking. If the only valve to the heater is the main supply at the water heater, then I've got some good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that you will not have hot water unless you heat it on the stove. The good news is that you can restore water service throughout the house so you can use the bathroom and cook. Here's how you are going to do it. Keep the main water service valve shut until you finish the following steps. Disconnect the two hoses from the water heater. One is a cold water inlet and the other is your hot water supply hose. The fitting is standard for most residential water heaters. Go to the plumbing section of your local home improvement store and ask for a water heater hose coupling. It will be threaded on the outside at both ends. Also get some Teflon tape. When you get home, wrap Teflon tape around the coupling threads in the direction of tightening. If you wrap the tape the other way, it will come loose as you tighten the hose fitting. With two open end or adjustable wrenches, tighten both water heater hoses to the coupling so water flows directly from the inlet hose to the hot supply hose. Turn on the water to the house and watch the coupling and hoses for leaks. Tighten as necessary to stop any leaks, but do not overtighten. At least now you will have water restored throughout your house. You can use your hot and cold faucet taps but it wo not make any difference. You will get cold water out of each until you get a new water heater.

4. new water heater has no hot water?

turn the breaker back on

5. Which water heater element should I get?

If you have a Reliance electric water heater, you need to just go buy a standard screw-in type flat element, at a good hardware or a local home improvement store. They should cost around $12, and I would advise replacing both while you have it apart. It's a real pain the butt to have to re-drain your heater's tank in a few months because the top element decided to fail. The elements should show between 12. 3 & 12. 7 ohms of resistance, if you have a volt/ohmeter available. Anything much higher or lower than that and they do not function properly. There's no need to worry about watt densities, they are inconsequential. I have no idea how long you've had this unit but I can tell you that in areas of good clean water, or in a home with a good water conditioning system the average water heater will last around 10 - 15 years, in which time you may have to replace elements once. In an area of high lime & or calcium deposits, the lifespan drops to 7 - 12 years