Water leak/ Rust on Hot outlet on Bradford white

zepfan

I hope the photo for this uploads correctly so it can be seen. About one of every 10 Bradford white water heaters that we install the above condition occurs after about nine months. I assume that the female adapter is leaking, and that was what caused this rust. What I don’t understand is why it takes several months for the issue to become apparent, why it always happens only on the BF models that we install, and why it only seems to occur on the hot water outlet side. It appears that both fittings were tighten down to the same degree, two and a half threads remain on both the hot and the cold. It also looks like there is teflon tape and some brand of blue pipe dope on the fittings. Any assistance, or suggestions would be much appreciated Thanks to all

Fred

I don't think it is just with Bradford White water heaters. I think that is galvanic corrosion as a result of the mix of copper to the galvanized nipple. I've had that happen on other brands of water heaters and I found that a couple extra wraps of Teflon tape and wrapping it well below the bottom of the copper connection seems to break that corrosive process. It does seem most prevalent on the Hot water side of the piping. I would guess using brass nipples instead of the galvanized ones that come with the heaters would also work well.