Water Heaters - corrosion

Water heater is 1 1/2 years old + is electric. I noticed a golf ball size of what looks like cauliflour mixed with green especially on the pipe that leaves the tank at the place where the pipe meets the tank.
The causes I guess could be;
1-defective tank
2-faulty insallation
3-corrosion that can be 'fixed' by using a wire brush with some type of solution, or, removal of the pipe and putting a new pipe in.
Typically, the apprentice who installed it won't come back.

Thank you for help.

There should be a dielectric nipple installed in the water heater, and then your pipes. Dissimilar metals will cause weird corrosion like you are describing.

A picture might help.

I understand, which implies these nipples were not used. Is this fixable or not?
Thank you

Pete, how old is the heater? Reason: is it worth the work, and will it benefit by the fix. If it is under 5 years old, you can relieve the pressure on the tank, remove the nipples there, and replace them with dielectric ones, and retrofit with newer connector pieces. But, as Furd says, it may help for us to see what you see. Post a couple of pix on a site such as photobucket.com and give us the urls.

The tank is 2 years in Feb.
My good neighbor has a friend who is licensed coming over tonight. I can really trust him from many past experiences. The plumber said if he can get the nipples - or unions as he called them off he said he can save the tank. One side of the nipple is one metal and the other is another metal just as you said. I'll let you know what happens.
I would also like to learn about the process for taking a photo and putting it somewhere for you to see. I don't know what url's are but I think the idea is to register, locate a forum and upload to that forum; then get back to you where I put it. That last part has me a bit confused.
Thanx for all the help and I look forward to hearing from you.

Hey, Pete, an easy way to post pictures is to register to a site such as photobucket.com, upload your pictures to their site from your camera or card and post the "HTML Code" by clicking on the words "HTML Code" then pressing Ctl "C". Then go to the post and put your cursor in the box then press Ctl "V". Your picture will magically appear as if....well it was magic.

Larry
Bear with me please - I really want to be able to do this.
1- When I go to photobucket.com no matter what I do I'm going to have to get you in touch with that picture -and I don't know how unless I get an address from you.
For example I belong to snapfish. When I upload a picture there I can share it by listing people's email addresses and inviting them. They got to snapfish log in and are automatically directed to the photo I uploaded.
2-I think what you are saying to avid all that is I login to photobucket, post my picture and you, being a member will be able to find it.
I know how to cc and cv but I have to look for this html you are referring to.
I am going to try it but could you break down the steps just a little?
As soon as I get it once I'll be able to use it again and can shoot you the photos I have taken. Thanx +
sorry for the imposition :-)

OK, I was going pretty fast. Once you upload the picture onto photobucket.com, under the picture will be several items: Email and IM, Direct Link, HTML Code, and IMG Code. Click on the word "HTML Code" under your picture and do the control "c" thingy. Then go to the DIY site and inside your reply post, click on your cursor and do the control "v" thing. Your picture will appear in your post. Now, you will have to log onto photobucket and upload your picture in order for us to be able to see it. Try it and let us know how it goes.

<a href="http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii206/nowellp/?action=view&current=P1090001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii206/nowellp/P1090001.jpg" border="0" alt="pik plumb"></a>

Great picture, Pete. I just wish that all the pictures shown (or linked to) were this clear.

Anyway, that looks to me to be a case of a poor solder job on the copper-to-male pipe thread adapter.

I would have never installed a tank in that manner.

IF you can get that fitting out I would use a six-inch brass nipple in the tank and then a flexible connector pipe to connect it back to the house plumbing UNLESS flexible connectors are prohibited by your local plumbing code.

I would use both Teflon tape AND Teflon paste on the nipple where it threads into the tank. No Teflon is required where the flexible connector screws on as that is sealed by a gasket.


I know that hard-piped installations look much nicer than do the flexible connections (and I used to prefer hard-pipe jobs) but in my area flexible connectors are required along with strapping the heater to the wall because of earthquake concerns.

I noticed using photobucket.com I ended up with two pix of the tank. Is that the way it is supposed to be?