On Mar 16, 2:22*pm, Puddin' Man wrote:
On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:33:38 -0700 (PDT), " wrote:
leaks can occur from the flue area, which goes thru the center of the
tank. leaks can and do start and stop, depending on temperature and
wether interior debris happened to clog leak.

if a leak can damage anything then replace the tank at that age its
way out anyway and a new one will save you gas and money.

Sounds reasonable. But I gotta *find* the leak before I
take any action.

my one tank sprayed water out of the flue when it failed

And it was a standard up-draft flue interface? First I've heard of that.

* P

"Blues starts to rolling ...
*stops at my front do'.
*I'm gonna change my way of livin' ...
*won't have to worry no mo'."
* * *- from "Blues Before Sunrise", Leroy Carr, maybe 1934

And it was a standard up-draft flue interface? First I've heard of
that.

Then make this the 2nd time you've heard of it.

My leak was in the flue tube and I found it by sheer luck. Whenever
the tank fired on, the pressure increased and forced a mist of water
into the flue tube. The heat carried it up into the metal flue pipe
where it condensed and dripped back down. I could turn the mist on
and off just by adjusted the thermostat.

But I gotta *find* the leak before I take any action

Maybe, maybe not.

If you've eliminated all other sources of the leak (plumbing, furnace,
rafters) and given that the unit is 15.5 YO, it might make sense to
start looking for sales and pick up a new unit. It's probably near the
end of it's life anyway.