Surprisingly, the interior of the burner compartment had NO rust and looked to be in very good condition. I did inform the client that the water heater (30 gal) may only be supplying a very small amount of hot water at this advanced age due to possibility of the interior being filled with mineral deposits.
The only explaination I can offer is that an elderly lady lived by herself in this 5000 sq ft home and that this water heater (1 of 2) may not have been used much depending on the faucets it was feeding.
Originally Posted By: jmyers This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Dan,
I am seriously impressed that water heater is still working. Heck, I am only a year older than it and I was ready to retire 10 years ago! 
Originally Posted By: nlewis This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Dan,
If there was a pic of the top we could see the lack of a tap for the T&P valve. At that age, the relief valve was installed on the hot water line. I have seen a few that old, and usually someone doesn't believe me that it is that old. Even at that age, I've found the serial number tells when it was manufactured.
This installation was created by a licensed general contractor at his own home. Seems his wife wanted a pantry right by the door to the kitchen (that's the refrigerator at the far left). I guess what wives want, wives get? To heck with any safety hazards.
Notice the flue and water supply pipes at top center. There was a panel cover (gray square, bottom center) so they could have access to the thermostat, but they had blocked the panel cover with the huge storage cabinet. And the cabinet was full of all those heavy things that licensed general contractors use, like seven car batteries, tons of tools (I think that was the largest tool collection I've ever seen), etc. And considering the organization of the storage in the cabinets, I think they need to follow the six-month rule: If I haven't used it in six months, throw it away, recycle it, give it to someone else, or sell it.
This was the easiest water heater inspection I've ever done. Amazing.
Originally Posted By: jmyers This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Russel,
Just so happens I did an inspection not so long ago with an original A O Smith from 1964 beating the Rudd by two years. It had that date on the water heater as being installed in '64, 38 years old and still going. Kinda hard to forget that one, that was the year my sister was born. Know what I mean.
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