Check the water heater's drain pan
Annual · typically March
Why it matters
Every tank water heater dies the same way eventually: the tank rusts through from the inside and lets go — sometimes a seep, sometimes 50 gallons at once with the cold supply cheerfully refilling behind it. The drain pan under it, with a drain line running somewhere harmless, is the difference between "huh, the pan's wet — time for a new heater" and a flooring claim.
What skipping it costs
$500–$10,000
Water heaters rarely explode — they seep, then fail, releasing 50 gallons plus the supply line's endless refill. With no pan or a pan that drains nowhere, that water goes into subfloor, drywall, and everything below. The pan-and-alarm combo costs less than a pizza night; the ceiling repair below an upstairs heater starts at four figures.
Two ways to get it done
Do it yourself
You'll need: Flashlight, Paper towel, Water leak alarm (~$15, if the pan doesn't have one yet).
- Pan present? If yes: is it intact (plastic pans crack), and is there a drain fitting on its side with a line attached?
- Follow the drain line to its end. It should terminate somewhere you'd notice water: a floor drain, outside, a laundry sink. A pan that drains into itself — capped, kinked, or plumbed to nowhere — is decoration. This is the single most common finding.
- Read the fittings: rust streaks at the cold/hot connections or crusty white-green deposits mean slow weeping. Dry crust is history; dampness on a paper towel is now. Weeping fittings are a cheap plumber visit while they're small.
- Look in the pan: any standing water or fresh rust ring means the tank or a fitting is already talking to you. Don't wait for it to shout.
- Drop a leak alarm in the pan — $15, screams at the first quarter-inch. If you did the leak-detector card, the heater pan was stop number one; if not, start here.
Hire it out
$100–$250National fair range — local labor moves this number.
A plumber visit to sort a pan issue — reroute a drain line, replace a cracked pan where access allows, tighten weeping fittings — runs $100–$250. The honest wrinkle: on many installs the pan physically cannot be added without draining and lifting the heater, which is why the right answer is often "note it now, include the pan when the heater is next replaced" — a $40 add at that moment, real money before it.
Keep this card connected to its siblings: the TPR-valve test and the annual flush have their own cards, and a tech already there for those should glance at the pan for free. Anyone who turns a pan conversation into an urgent heater replacement is selling the appliance, not the fix.
Ask the tech
- Where does the pan's drain line actually terminate? Show me the other end.
- Are those rust streaks at the fittings active weeps or old history? How can you tell?
- If the pan can't be added without pulling the heater, what does it cost to include at replacement time?
Red flags you're being upsold
- Using a missing pan as a lever to replace a healthy water heater 'for code.' Pans matter, but they're a $40 accessory, not a reason to buy a $1,800 appliance.
- Quoting pan retrofit as if it were simple when the heater has to be drained and lifted — or quoting heater-replacement money for what is genuinely a drain-line reroute.
- A 'preventive' anode-and-flush-and-pan bundle invented on the spot at premium pricing. Each piece has its own card and its own fair price.
Second opinion time: Any visit that starts with a pan question and ends with a replacement quote over $2,000.
The call
DIY the annual look and the $15 alarm today. Pan retrofits are hire-it-out work, honestly best done when the heater is next replaced.