Off-Topic: Electrolysis in a Water Heater

Here's a strange one:

The electric hot water heater at our office seems to be producing an awful lot of hydrogen. I've heard of water heaters electrolyzing an appreciable amount of gas if left unused for a few weeks. But our hot water faucet sputters out gases every time we use it.

How do I know it's hydrogen? My dad is a chemical engineer, with a lot of experience with hydrogen. He told me it would be safe to test it with a match next to the sputtering faucet. The explosion that happened was small, but still impressive--and unmistakable. (Of course there's oxygen there, too.)

What he couldn't answer from 800 miles away, was what to look for in the water heater installation that would cause this. Plumbers came today and didn't have a clue. They called the manufacturer, who told them it could be caused by an element getting too hot, so they replaced an element and a thermostat. I can see how an overheated element could produce water vapor, or cause air that was dissolved in very cold water to come out of solution; but water vapor and air don't pop when exposed to a lighted match. So that didn't seem likely to work--and it didn't.

The water heater is in an attic above a 10-foot ceiling. I haven't been up there to look at it myself. The only similar problem I've been able to track down online was here. Does anyone out there have any idea what the plumber should look for? Thanks.

Posted: Tue - January 16, 2007 at 08:37 PM |

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson getCategoryName("<$CategoryUUID$>");

Off-Topic: Electrolysis in a Water Heater

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson