Water heater leaking from the bottom

Get a dry towel and wipe the base. Watch for one minute while the heater is idle, then again while it heats. The first wet point is the diagnosis.

A drip at the small valve near the floor is the drain. A drip at a threaded fitting where pipe meets tank is a nipple or union. Water that appears from under the insulation, with rust, is the steel.

That third one is why bottom leaks scare people. The replacement page is the visit. The repair page is the first two.

Wet spot	Likely part	Usual outcome
The little hose-bib at the bottom	Drain valve	Repair if the shell is sound
Threads where the pipe enters	Nipple or dielectric union	Repair if the tank wall is dry
Rust bloom under the jacket, center bottom	Tank wall	Replacement
Film on the whole tank after a shower	Condensation	No part to change

Do not lay a bead of sealant on a rust hole. The hole is the end of the steel, not a seam you can glue.

A basement heater can drip into a floor drain for a day before anyone notices. A Vero Beach garage cannot. The water finds the door, the hall, or the drywall on the other side of the closet.

In Florida Ridge the heater is often in the garage. You see the puddle when you pull in. In a South Beach chase you may see the ceiling stain first, which means the leak started one floor up.

If the stain is already on the wall, the failing heater signs are past the early stage. Shut the inlet using the shutoff steps if the floor is still safe. A pan that is part of the puddle has its own notes in the overflowing pan guide.

We say repair or replace before we take the old tank apart. A drain valve on a sound shell is a small job. A shell leak means the new heater, the pan, and the connections.

You approve that price in the closet, with the wet spot in front of both of us. We do not guess it from a phone photo alone when the jacket is still on.

We pull enough jacket back to see steel. Foam that is wet only on the outside can be sweat. Foam that is rusty and soggy at the center bottom is the tank. That is the moment the job changes from a valve to a replacement, and you see it with us.

If the heater sits on a wood platform in a closet, we look at the platform too. Soft wood means the leak is older than this morning. We will not set a new tank on a sponge. The pan and a sound base are part of the same visit.

Drain-down happens after you approve the work. We run a hose to a safe spot, not across the hall carpet. On a slab garage the driveway is usually the safe spot. In a condo chase we ask where the building wants the water before we open the drain.

Bottom leaks rarely stay polite. A thread drip can sit for days. A shell leak speeds up as the steel opens. If you watched it go from a dime-sized spot to a trail toward the door, say that. The change in speed tells us the wall is failing, not a fitting that loosened.

We also check the hot outlet nipple. People stare at the floor and miss a leak that starts at the top and runs down the jacket. Wiping the top fittings is part of the same look. Water on the floor does not always begin on the floor.

After a replacement, the old tank leaves with us. We do not leave a rusted shell in the garage to keep dripping on the way to the curb. The pan under the new heater is empty when we go, and you know where the drain daylights. If that drain ends in a wall, we say so before we leave, because a hidden end is how the next drip becomes a stain.

Mark the edge of the wet spot with a piece of tape if the water is not still spreading. An hour later the tape tells you whether the leak is active. A spot that grew past the tape is not leftover wash water from a mop. A spot that stalled may be what you already wiped.

Do not stack towels against the base and leave for work. Towels hide growth and keep the steel wet. A dry view of a small drip is more useful to us than a pile of wet cloth and a story about how big it was at dawn.

When we replace a bottom-failed tank we also look at the shutoff that did not want to turn. A seized inlet is how the next leak becomes a bigger flood. If that valve is finished, it is part of the price you approve, not an add-on whispered at the end. You will see the old valve and the new one before we pack up.