Hot water cylinder burst -- did I cause it?

[mrshake]

I just discovered an hour ago that our hot water cylinder is leaking / has burst (apparently from pressure -- the insulation has blown out at the spot of the leak). I had actually gone into the airing cupboard an hour earlier, and had noticed that it was really humid in there and two towels hanging on/near the cylinder were very wet -- assumed my wife had washed them and hung them there to dry. When I went back an hour later, noticed the carpet was wet, and discovered the leak. The hot water heater was possibly on at the time of the burst -- it's on from 6-ish until about 9 or 10pm.

The thing is, on Wednesday I replaced the kitchen tap with a single outlet mixer tap. The hot water pressure wasn't sufficient for the tap to perform well, so I was going to switch it back with the old one but hadn't got around to it. Is it possible that the cold water mains pressure overpowered the hot water supply enough to weaken and burst the tank (it is possible that the mixer tap was being used when the leak occurred, as we were in and out of the kitchen all evening).

Thanks for any advice!

 

[kevplumb]

na

 

[EliteHeat]

No, it would have just found its way up the open vent and resulted in the warning pipe running.

 

[mrshake]

Thanks for the quick (and late night) replies -- I hope you're right (well, not that it matters at this point).

In doing the tap work, I was shutting off the hot water supply by shutting the cold water feed into the hot water cylinder (there doesn't seem to be a tap anywhere between the cylinder and the hot water supply to the kitchen, so that was the only way I could cut the supply). That should be OK also, right (since the vent pipe is separate pipe that remains open).

 

[John M]

Selective recall is required here ....... Maybe ya should fone the insurance company 1st

 

[Softus]

No, it would have just found its way up the open vent and resulted in the warning pipe running.

Not that it really matters, but the water would have backfed up the cylinder cold feed before coming out of the vent, unless the flow was fast enough to defeat the inertia of the water in the cylinder.

 

[mrshake]

Our plumber came by and reassured me that it was just a coincidence. The leak was from one of the outlets which had leaked water into a space between the tank and the insulation. When that hot water built up enough, it ruptured the insulation in a way that made it look like the tank had burst.

Thanks for your late night replies, which helped me get at least a little sleep...