Has anyone heard about putting a Marble in a Water Line / Water Heater?

[Pat_Knucklers]

I just heard a podcaster who had an issue with his water heater and when the plumber came out there was a marble in the unit.  Has anyone ever heard of this?

If I understand correctly, it sounds like a common thing that they would put a marble in the hot water heater.  

In the case below, they found it in the water line.  I wonder it if came out of the heater.

WTH Is A Marble Doing In My Water Line? | Forged Mettle Farm

It's funny how people do things in the past that we just don't understand in the times that we live in.

[Steph]

Hunh.  We have a long, ancient thread here for non-play uses of marbles.  I don't remember anything about heaters though.   

Whaddaya Know About ... Industrial Uses For Marbles? - Archives - Marble Connection


I will add that article you found to the end of it .... 

 

 

[Ric]

Maybe from a ball valve gone bad?

[RolleyHoleMan]

This kinda cracked me up a little. 

I have not seen a marble in a hot water heater myself, but I have used marbles for plumbing repairs. Last winter I was working and living in a State Park that had some pretty lousy housing, with my house being a half-length single wide trailer from the 1970s. It was nice, but neglected. 

It got to -2 and my heat failed. Despite having the water running, I lost every inch of PVC pipe in the house. 

So when the thaw came, I had to stop water leaks by putting glass marbles in the end of my copper lines, then tightening them down with whatever the little connector is for attaching the copper to the PVC. Obviously I'm not a plumber... The main water shut off to the house was busted in a way that caused it to leak, so marbles really saved the day until I learned the house had two shut offs. 

[copemys]

Marbles refer to the loose mineral deposits which develop in a water heater. If your water heater rumbles, and shakes, you have marbles which act as boiling chips.