[Special_K]

I had a liscensed plumber replace my gas water heater in august and everything has been fine but I just noticed today that the dielectric nipple that came with the water heater is rusting down at the base of the tank on the cold side. I dont see any water down there. The hot dielectic nipple looks fine. The water heater sits in my pantry and is vented. What's going on? I thought dielectric corrosion happened where two different metals meet? I attached a picture below. Thanks in advance!

 

[oh'mike]

Your picture shows a standard galvanized nipple---the dielectric union would be attached to the top of that.

Call the plumber you have water leaking some where ----

 

[ben's plumbing]

yep agree with mike...looks like a small leak at the nipple call plumber back have him redue that connection then it should be fine..ben sr

 

[jagans]

Sure thats Galvanized? I see no Spangle. May be SS. Any anti-seize compound on that Nipple? Magnesium Anode?

 

[joecaption]

Simple way to check to see if it's the right nipple is to shut the water off open up a faucet to relive the pressure and remove the flex line from the nipple to see if there's a linner inside the nipple.

 

[Special_K]

Hey guys thank you all for replying. I got to thinking last night that those nipples didnt come with the water heater, I picked up a water heater hookup kit myself when i bought the water heater. The link to the exact product i bought is below. The old nipples and unions were rusted out so the plumber removed all of that back to the copper lines coming through the wall. Those nipples that came with the kit are indeed galvanized, a magnet sticks to them.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_148945-135-...L=?Ntt=gas+water+heater+hookup+kit&facetInfo=