I got a call from the family in one of my rentals with water in the basement, jumped in my truck with tools. The water heater was dribbling out water from the drain valve, I tightened it up, but it seemed to not fully shut off the leak. It is only 2 years old with a 7-year warranty and after the holiday I will see about a warranty claim. I went to a home supply store and bought some caps shown below which stopped the remaining leak and will put them on my other rentals. It did not wreck anything a wet vac cleaned it up in 30 minutes, they are a nice young couple and their kids are nice, I will reduce their rent next month for the hassle. $2.50 for 4 caps, a cheap way of adding protection to a drain valve. Like the valve, but not my rental. The Cap.
On a new water heater I pull the plastic drain valve and relocate it to the garbage and replace it with a 1/4 turn ball valve.
After finding out my old water heater needed replacing by stepping in water one morning, I decided that the replacement would sit in a drain pan, piped outdoors.
