Vintage RUUD Water Heater trouble

[58limited]

The original gas water heater in my 1936 house started to leak. It has a Monel tank which is not supposed to corrode (I realize there are no absolutes and it might be corroding) but before I get rid of it I thought I'd post here. I know very little about water heaters. The leak is dripping on the pilot light air vent which is basically right under where the thermostat mounts to the tank. Is there a temperature probe that goes into the tank at that location? Could the leak be there where it mounts to the tank? I'd like to repair it if I can (although the plumber laughed at me and said he has tried to get vintage parts before but his suppliers laugh at him when he tries).

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

Why do you want to save / repair it, just because it's old?

 

If it's leaking / dripping, it's a lost cause.

 

While I don't know the construction of all brands, my understanding is the tanks are porcelain (or galvanized) coated steel and over time the heat from the flame burns away / damages the porcelain.   It then starts to rust and the rest as they say, is history.

 

Newer water heaters are more efficient and better insulated.

 

Just be thankful you got as many years out of it as you did!  

Kevin

[this post was last edited: 4/30/2015-14:58]

 

[richnz]

If you "repaired" it

and it then leaked causing a flood, would your insurance company pay out?

 

[launderess]

Try here: http://www.thetankatwaterheaterrescue.com/forums/forum3/3170.html

 

[revvinkevin]

... would your insurance company pay out?

 

 

As water heaters are NOT serviceable / repairable (once leaking), knowing how insurance companies work, I would say no, especially if/when they discover you tried to "mickey mouse" a repair when it was leaking.

 

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I just edjamcated myself and looked up a "monel" tank.   Interesting, not the usual crap construction.   But at the same time, cost about 10 TIMES MORE then a regular water heater, WHEN they were available back then.   I'm sure they haven't been available for years due to the extreme cost.   I mean can you imagine paying $10 - $12K+ for a water heater today? 

 

[launderess]

Monel

Was the wonder metal of its time. Everything from steam locomotive and other boiler liners, water heaters, kitchen surfaces (countertops, etc...) and so forth were made of the stuff. Monel was valued for its ability to resist corrosion so while you paid more upfront as Cosmo Castorni says " It costs money because it saves money".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monel

http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/pictures/metal-good-12-01-1934-009-M5.jpg

Yes, Monel water heaters cost more than others but with proper care they lasted a *LONG* time. Am sure that factored into why manufacturers stopped offering such things. I mean why sell something that will live longer than yourself when you can peddle water heaters that last only five or so years before needing replacement?

The other big money metal for water heaters of course would be copper.

 

[58limited]

First, I already planned to remove this water heater tomorrow, I just decided to see if it might be repairable first. The RUUD only provides hot water for the bathrooms. I have a modern electric 50 gallon water heater that I use for the kitchen and laundry, it is a simple move to tie that hot water line to the bathroom line and cap off the water and gas lines where the RUUD is installed.

 

Second, there is a definite advantage to losing this water heater - I can convert the large closet where it is located into a pantry and kitchen overflow storage room for larger pots or appliances that I don't use very often. It is located near the kitchen.

 

Third, here was my line of thinking when posting earlier: I understand that if the tank itself is leaking that the water heater is a lost cause. If a fitting is leaking then that can often be repaired (and might be cheaper than what I'm about to pay a plumber to remove this heater and connect the hot water lines to the other one). I don't know much about water heater construction, what I was trying to determine with my first post is if there is a fitting where the thermostat mounts that might be leaking. For my own curiosity I'll just take the t-stat off tomorrow and look when we drain and disconnect the water heater. The reason I wanted to repair? If it is not the tank that is leaking, why not repair a nearly corrosion proof water heater?  The safety valve and t-stat work fine. Me and some family members have had some bad luck with modern water heaters so I don't have a very high opinion of them. My monthly gas bill is not very high so I'm not too worried about efficiency compared to modern ones.

 

[combo52]

Old Rudd Monel Water Heater

First of all an insurance HAS TO PAY water leak claims unless you caused the damage deliberately, just like if you get drunk tonight and wreak your car, THEY HAVE TO PAY, they may cancel you later if they deem you as too great a risk, but trying to fix an old WH is not exactly that risky.

 

These old Rudd water heaters are pretty cool, and they are actually more efficient than some newer WHs because of having the heat going around the tank, they have a MUCH LARGER heat exchange area so a little sediment build-up in the bottom does not ruin their efficiency like newer WHs.

 

We have a 20 gallon Rudd Monel WH at our museum, it was given to us by a customer on Capital Hill, the tank never failed but the owner said it needed a new control, so if you end up junking it Roger I would love to talk to you about your old control.

 

[58limited]

John,

 

I'll keep you in mind but it is pretty cool looking, I'm thinking of putting it in a corner somewhere in my house as a display/accent piece.

 

[a440]

I would take out all of the gas plumbing to the control valve.

Then carefully take out the thermostat control.  You will see that there is a probe that goes into the take to sense the water temperature.  I think what you have leaking at this spot is the very old plumbers putty or whatever they called it back then.  If you put it back with a more modern seal it will be just fine.  The leak will stop.  I don't know how much of a job you want to do while doing this task....but it would be a great time to try to clean out as much of this tank as you can.  Although this type of tank could last your whole life they did have an issue with lime scale, and this depended on where you lived.  It is possible to wash this entire tank out.  If you do this you tank would last well beyond your needs.  This TANK was truly a till the end of time tank.  You are now dealing with the other FEW things that can fail such as the seal around the control valve. 

Keep this tank.  It is awesome.

Keep us updated on what you do to it.

Fun!

Brent

 

[58limited]

Plumber is here, we couldn't find the leak so the tank is disconnected and we are connecting the bathroom hot water lines to the other water heater.

 

We tried to take the T-stat fitting off but it is stuck and there is not enough of a gap in the case to look and see if this fitting is leaking at the tank. The temperature probe came out just fine and is in good shape, not much sediment inside the tank either. Time is an issue so we are removing this water heater.

 

[a440]

Sad News.....

Sorry to hear.

That take is worth a pretty penny at the recyclers! 

 

 

 

[tomturbomatic]

I don't know about your utility costs, but if you removed the Monel tank from the insulated jacket, paint it black and put it in a sunny place, it could make a great preheater tank for your domestic hot water supply.

 

[supersurgilator]

Well that certainly is a neat old thing. I'm glad that you are going to hang on to it tho, I would too such a nice antique.

 

[vacosaurus]

I have a Ruud Monel also

It is a 25 Gallon capacity.I think it's about a 1955. Got it from my Aunt. She did not want it and replaced it because she was afraid of it because it was old. I tried to tell her it was fine and a Rolls Royce lifetime kind of tank. But she still wanted to change it so I got it from her and when my 1930's instantanious ( Sand's manufacturing Cleveland Ohio ) water heater finally went bad I put the Ruud Monel back to work that was eleven years ago. It still functions perfectly. Mine has the same gas control valve as yours. Man what happened to us as a country we produced products like these that functioned perfectly for 50 plus years to a country that cannot produce a product that barely functions five years if your lucky ten years. If I had your tank I think I would take off the outer jacket and inspect the tank and see if there was some other issue causing the leak before I would condemn it. If the tank is bad I am sure you could sell the control valve and the Monel metal tank is valuable at the scrap yard. Let us know what happened to it. Regards Bill,