Water leaks in your house are one of the most damaging and messy things to happen to any homeowner. Loose water sucks on so many levels. Mildew, Mold, Dry Rot, Stains, Drywall, Flooring, base board damage….you get the idea. There are two areas where flexible hoses are used. The laundry room for your washer and your water heater. The Natural Handyman has a good posting on Laundry hoses which applies to Water Heater hoses as well.
It makes sense in both locations as both your washer and water heater have limited life spans and at some point will need replacement. Both manufacturers are in the business of moving product and not making your life easier. Probably the best illustration of this is washer commercials. They talk about features, capacity, colors, etc. None of them talk about longevity or only needing one.
One of the more important connections in your plumbing supply are the connections at your water heater. There are two. The cold water supply into the water heater, and the hot water outlet for your house. This is most often accomplished with a flexible hose.
This is a photo of a pair of WATT Stainless Steel Hoses. They both failed in less than 4 years.
These were purchased at Lowes, and are still stocked. Probably available at the orange store too.
They looks like a braided stainless high pressure hose such as found in heavy construction equipment for the flexible hydraulic fluid which is under many times the pressure of a domestic water supply. This is not the case here. This is a demonstration of sizzle over steak.
These look like a heavy duty product. They are not. They are crap and should not be used under any circumstances.
Both of these hoses failed at the same point. Crappy manufacture in any case. I do not have high water pressure nor any other cause that would say it is not the manufactures fault. Both lines failed. Hot and Cold side.
They failed less than 6 months apart. I should have replaced them both at the same time, but there were other concerns like sucking up all that damn water and drying out the utility room. The other one failed the day before yesterday and has been replaced. I talked with my plumber so that I would not have to pencil in this chore anytime soon. Here are the new lines.
These are one piece Falcon Stainless Steel Corrugated lines. They are what my plumber uses for all installs and retrofits so he doesn’t have to return to replace them. My Plumber is very good. Good enough for me. These are more expensive like everything else but are worth it.
Here is the tag if you decide you want to do this yourself.
These are made by Falcon Stainless Inc. You will probaby need to find a commercial hardware or plumbing supply store for these. Highly Recommended!
Here is what the kit looks like.
Borrowed from the Falcon Stainless Inc. site.
Did I mention the LIFETIME warranty?
This is one of those deals where you want to replace both at the same time.
Again I say, Thank You SO Much! This is a great post. I’ve been really worried about my water heater blowing up since it’s 12 years old and it’s never been drained or maintained in any way. What? I’m really busy…
In your opinion, are water heaters “blowing” and leaking water all over primarily – or only – caused by the hoses failing? Could the body of the water heater fail too? I guess I’m asking: if I replace the hoses with something like what you recommend, can I stop worrying that my 12 year old water heater will suddenly spew water all over?
Heather,
Yes, the majority of problems are the hose connections. As for the heater itself ‘blowing’ up, not so much. On all tank water heaters sold in the US is a pressure relief valve which is activated by a build up of pressure in the tank. The caveat here is lack of maintenance can cause the build up of sediment to fuse the pressure relief valve making it useless.
As for the maintenance, bad girl! But you are not alone. Out of site out of mind…
Here in Arizona we have a high mineral content in the water which only accelerates these problems. That is why there is such a booming business in faucet replacements and shower heads.
Lack of maintenance is the second leading cause of replacement/failure. Over time sediment builds up and reduces the ability of your heater to do its job. This shows up in two ways, both with are subtle. First, in gas heaters sediment builds up on the bottom of the tank insulating it, causing your heater to run longer to heat less water which costs you money.
In extreme cases, the burner will burn out.
In electric heaters, sediment not only builds up on the base of the tank but also around the heating elements insulating them, forcing them to run longer to heat your water. Costs you money here too.
Second is not having enough hot water for long showers. Or having to wait between showers in a multi-person household. Or not being able to use the shower tub while you are doing laundry…
You should probably think about a new heater.
Thanks for stopping by.
I just took a midnight panic call from a friend describing a leak with the same hose, manufacturer and failure point. She thinks it was replaced about 6 years ago. Maybe the Chinese have adopted better quality control practices since then. Yeah, right… Thank you for the info on the superior Falcon product alternative.
@-seff-
You can get the Falcon stainless steel hoses from plumbingsupply.com and plumbingworld.com for as low as $4.99 for a 3/4″x3/4″ 12 inch hose. I’ve just ordered two for my replacement water heater that I picked up today as I wanted to avoid using the corrugated copper hoses or the Watt stainless steel flex hoses that the salesman was recommending.
Thanks for the tip on the hoses. This is a solution that the big box home improvement stores dont offer. I was going to install braided water heater hoses to my Bosch FL washing machine & dryer aquastop hoses but I was concerned about how the chinese braided hoses collapse when bent 90 degrees. These hoses will maintain integrity and shape for many many years. With a 2nd story washing machine installation, these hoses give great piece of mind.
THE MATERIAL INSIDE THE WATTS WATER HEATER STAINLESS STEEL BRAIDED HOSES ARE NOT ABLE TO WITHSTAND THE TEMPS THEY OPERATE UNDER. THE MATERIAL IS DETERIORATING AWAY INSIDE THE HOSE NEAR THE CONNECTIONS, TYPICALLY CLOSEST TO THE WATER HEATER.
Thanks for the post about the Falcon Product. I have just wasted my ENTIRE day trying to install a new water heater only to have the WATTS connection lines fail behind the new unit, soaking the entire closet and garage floor. UGH! Even tried to replace them with two new ones…those failed, too!!! Thankfully we have not pushed the unit back up on it’s perch and have resolved to find another product. My Honey knew that this type of hose existed and you have put a name to it-thanks!
After my second braided hose failure in under 5 months I removed the time bombs and installed copper flex. Unfortunately I can’t as easily replace my water heater; it’s a mess! Water leaked down through the upper fittings and infiltrated all areas. It’s a shame the big box stores sell these crappy hoses! My water heater closet “was” brand new construction; shame on me for not hooking up the pan drain… I learned my lesson the hard way; too bad it is at the expense of crappy Chinese products!!!
i installed watts flex ss hoses about 6 years ago, and where i had my problem, was where the ss meets the crimped part, it rusted into a bulk of rust, which says its not made of ss. its like the ss muffler, that has parts that rust on your car. so ss in only a marketing tool to get your money.
What a great blog post! And thanks for the plug. Braided connectors really are a terrible product, and here’s a fun tidbit – braided connector failures rank in the top 3 for homeowner’s insurance claims yearly in the US. And @Jared – copper is also not a great solution. Not only is it more expensive than stainless steel, the copper flex work hardens and ends up kinking, crimping, and flattening, thereby reducing flow.
And yes, the lifetime warranty comes from the confidence we have in our engineering and manufacturing. Nobody else offers it because nobody else can stand behind their product like we do!
I have installed dozens of these stainless braided supply lines as a major landlord and they fail on the hot side after @6 years. Go with solid copper flex or hard pipe if not in an earthquake zone.
These stainless flex lines SUCK BIG TIME.
I bought Watts stainless steel braided connectors from Home Depot. Heating side burst after 2yrs. I came home to a mess because braided hose sprayed water like a sprinkler. I am going back to flexible copper. I work in large bldg. maintenance operation and hearing more horror stories about these garbage connectors from China. Something needs to be done!! Thanks for excellent info!!!