LEAKING BRADFORD GAS WATER HEATER THERMOSTAT CONTROL REPLACED 

THERE'S NO NEED TO USE A PIPE WRENCH OR DESTROY THE CONTROL VALVE IN ORDER TO LOOSEN IT. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS KEEP A SHORT - MAYBE A 5 OR 6 INCH LONG 1/2" DIAMETER PIPE /NIPPLE WITH YOU AND WHAT YOU DO IS YOU SCREW IT IN ONTO GAS INLET PORT AND THIS NIPPLE WILL GIVE YOU THE LEVERAGE THAT YOU NEED AND WILL ACT AS A HANDLE FOR YOU TO GRAB ON AND TURN THE WHOLE THING LOOSE.

Chucky u wanna screw a 6 or 8 inch nipple into valve and use that as leverage to tighten and or loosen. Good job buddy! Got er done

This is exactly what mine was doing! This video just saved me 1500$ on a new water heater. Chuck, I owe you a beer! Thank you so much!

My thermostat control was leaking but my plumber said my tank was 8 years old. Rather than replace the control he advised I replace the entire tank instead of spending a couple hundred bucks on a new control and have the heater fail shortly thereafter. So it was one of those wonderful mornings when I woke up to find the floor flooded in the garage and an hour later I was out $750..... Gotta love those days lol.

Hey Chuck I've learned a lot from your videos especially using compressed air to clean the combustion chamber! That's a game changer for water heaters , but let me give you a tip in case you didn't know. Its much easier to remove a Honeywell valve with a 1/2" x 6" nipple , use it as a handle thread into gas inlet on valve. You should see this gadget I made for testing the valve simulates thermo pile voltage , it helps quickly eliminate the valve as a suspect in service calls. But I have pinched nerves in my neck trying to unscrew those Honeywell valves with my hands use a nipple 1/2" x 6-10" if you have room. You probably know this by now but hate to see you struggle with it in this video!! Great videos !! Thanks for all your knowledge and experience!!! Oh yeah those leaking plastic valve housings cause the thermistor to short out! I've seen that a few times and when I build water heaters I don't use the plastic tip ones just the stainless metal for more protection!

Chuck, enjoyed the video, amazing how cheap the connector was being plastic with the replacement stainless steel. Need that five, six wraps of teflon tape with pipe dope when can only hand tighten, with no room for wrench.

Great job

Hey man great video! Thank you! Im having the same problem-Just diagnosed. I actually manage an area in the factory where these are made! We get that contole box on and off with a big box with sides that go around the control panel- with a big Handel that sticks out in front of it. I haven’t examined it closely, But I assumed it was a custom set up. I will surly pass along this problem with the engineering team and ensure this plastic part on the back of the control Module has been addressed with our suppliers. Feel free to reach out to me and maybe I can help you find a way to obtain this tool! Our water heaters last for a long time, website said ten years, but I know a couple people with Bradford white water heaters that are 20+ years old! I’d say it was definitely worth it to replace the faulty parts(that we don’t make,lol) Thanks for the video!!!

was a time consuming for a 6 years old heater cb1 keep smiling 😀

contact cement/spray the gaskets to the covers first, instead of trying to put them in later. alternate some dots of hi temp silicone towards the corners will hold them in place, even when not dry.

Thanks so much Chuck. I'm only getting drips from my Honeywell controller/thermostat on my Bradford Water Heater. It's after a person installed a valve to supply hot water to my humidifier (we had been using cold water with little success).

If you are looking for a rigid line for your blow gun, go to an auto parts store and get a 24" brake line and bend the end of it with a tubing bender. The brake line fittings screw right on to the blow guns.

Great video and demonstration Chuck. Awesome work.

Hey 👋Chuck! Appreciate you sharing your knowledge you can't buy that my friend! I had one question, I you dont mind,me asking what was the final price you charged for that job? I'm just getting started and that's the hardest part for me to bid a job correctly. Thank you I'd appreciate any advice and mentorship if you find the time. Thanks man!

Wrench for tightening control... a piece of 1/2" black pipe screwed into the inlet.

How are you supposed to take this off without.....destroying it lmao. Lol plumblife 😂 keep at it Charles!

thread a piece of black-pipe in the valve and a piece in the burner outlet port, if you have one that fits. one gas pipe and second hand on the housing usually knocks them right loose. the compound they put them in with sets but stays pretty soft, even around 5yr mark. not like the old ones they used locking compound and what seemed like a 4' wrench at install lol

Hey Chuck...guess what I had today? A Bradford 40 gallon atmospheric leaking at the icon control. I just giggled to myself when I saw it, cause I've never seen that happen ever, except for this video you posted. Water heater was 10 years old, so she wanted it replaced today.

A rubber strap wrench Chuck is what you got to use it'll fit around the whole outside of it you just twist it around... Ridgid makes some..

Use a bigger pipe wrench to grab the outside of the gas valve.

What is that grey motor to the left? Never seen one in CA or AZ. This location looks nightmarish.

I use a Really large pair of channel locks on the valve body itself, I count the turns the old one takes to come out, & try to put back in the same # of turns & for some reason ALL mine come scratched from the factory 😉

Hello I really want to thank you for this video I had the same thing the same name brand happens to me today and found your video on here and I did step by step saved me 2000 grand on a whole new system they told me I needed and to you I was able to take a hot shower tonight thanks a lot for a great video give you ten stars in our house thank you so much really helpful

Good job .. and thanks for the video

This is not what I expect a professional would do.

Come on chucky baby lets get it done!! Stop messing around!! This is just an idea but what about trying a STRAP WRENCH to remove & install it?

Screw in a 6" nipple in the gas opening...then push down and unscrew!

Two thumbs up 👍🏻👍🏻

And I use a gas nipple in gas control valve to spin it loose. And use a gas nipple to tighten it back. Cause those smart gas control valve made out of plastic.

That friggin heat pipe couldn’t be in a worse spot.

It's all about temperatures and plastic, on hot setting you'll read around 140 degrees, and that's not even near the a setting

Did you have to deal with those funky hex nuts that don't seem to accept a standard Allen wrench? What's that all about?

sad that everything is made with cheap plastic these days... nice job...almost less labor to install a new unit...

Great video! It’s going to be my first too !!I’m doing it for my nephew , a service job like this one how much you charge?Im going to do some research to see if you can change that gas valve without sucking out the water out from the gas water heater ,can that be possible?

could have been worse, the heat pipe could have been blazing hot 190F+ lol

I have same issue, it’s leaking at the same spot. Should I replace valve only or given that the water heater is 10 years old should I replace entire heater. It is Bradford White as well? Thanks for any input.

this is a good example on HOW NOT TO THE REPAIR a leaky water heater. Please do not follow

All this , because bradford white skimped on a small part

Isn't funny how the simplest solutions are the last thing that comes to mind--- next time it will only take half the time--don't let the guys a the fire house watch this, they will be on your ass all day

Put a nipple in the gas inlet port

You screw a pipe to were the gas line goes and use that to turn it.

So much fun #plummerlife

it would suck if it starts leaking in 6 months I try to get customers to just trerplace it after spending probably $ 600 on that repair. that's about $200 shy of half a water heater replacement. If customer insists on repair I tell them im not your guy please find someone else to do job.

Now change anodes and probably will last another 6 years. :D

You edited out the only part I wanted. How to remove the wires to the control box.

so nOISY

Chuck when finances allow it, double down on your lottery tickets purchases. The nightmares of your profession will fade as your surfing hours increase...

Use your belt. Amateurs

Next time tell the customer they be better off just getting a new water heater

Small nipple on the gas connection and use that as leverage

CB, I use a big pair of channel locks, when there is no room for a nipple on the control valve

Chuckie got a sponsor! Good for you brother.

Use pipe threaded into the vavle inlet to tighten.

Customer needed new water heater so we replaced with brand new Bradford White. After install started to fill and immediately the darn ThermoValve started leaking! 😭😭BRAND NEW mind you... So Yup I had to uninstall and reinstall another new water heater! The water heater we needed had the side taps to heat up his furnace and these water heaters are not cheap $1,500.00 NOW WILL BRADFORD WHITE COMPENSATE ME FOR HAVING TO INSTALL THEIR FACTORY DEFECT THE SECOND TIME??

I've got a question. I have three 50 gal. WH that all smell heavily of propane. I've done a leak test with liquid leak detector and not a bubble. The smell seems to emanate from the Honeywell valves. My old heater would smell like gas right up next to the unit, but these three units fill the area with a propane smell. They are made in 2015, 16, and 17 and are from different mfgs, but they all use the same thermostat/valve. Normal for these?

Ridgid makes a cordless air compressor. About $200. Totally worth it. Model number is: R0230

CB-1 I should have told you this before you started that job put a piece of black pipe into the gas valve and loosen it that way you'll get a better grip, then you spend it right out with the Leverage. Peace brother

I've always wondered how that would be changed out if needed be. I can't believe they use plastic for plumbing fittings on that thermostat. I noticed that too on my new water heater. I just thought manufacturers were just being cheap to save on brass. Ridiculous. It would have been cheaper to replace it with a new hot water heater.

Chuck b just ask cb2 what wrench to use love all of u and marcie to how about strap wrench will maybe not ps love the dog too

Two pipes screwed into the valve body and use as a handle. Once in remove the pipes.

Thank you

Hello Chuck... Thanks for the helpful video. I am in the middle of the same job on my Bradford. The guy at the supply store told me that the steel piece on the nipple of the new valve was originally on the unit that went bad but it disintegrated over time.

Have a leaking valve right now. Thanks for the video. Hopefully the plumper comes quick

Is Bradford White really better than the others or is it they just give you guys a better discount to use them? Seems like a lot of problems with them.

You can temp. install a short piece of gas pipe on thermostat control for leverage to remove and replace....

Well I think I'll keep this comment to myself CB

No quick change? Just air lock it drain it a lil at the boiler drain. I do it all the time.

Just want to thank you for posting your mega press video you convinced me into buying the Ridgid tool 4 gas pipe mostly.

U didn't clean the Gasget off the heater

I have never seen it leak from there before.

I tried to tell u Bradford are junk grass hopper.

Really helpful thank you!

Got love all that plastic.

How long did this job take?

Next time use Rheem