National forensic engineering firm, U.S. Forensic, recently undertook a large project to investigate a large number of braided stainless steel water heater connector failures for one of the largest property carriers in the country. Michael DeHarde, P.E., and Brian Darr, P.E., worked on the months-long project to determine the cause of the leaks associated with the braided stainless steel brand water heater connectors commonly sold at the major big box hardware centers.

U.S. Forensic was one of several forensic engineering firms approached to work on the project, and was selected based in part on the proposal to actually test each unit and photograph the results of the test, rather than just visually inspect, as proposed by others. As NASA Rocket Scientist Wernher von Braun famously said, “One test result is worth 1,000 expert opinions.”

The process began even before the subject connectors were received by acquiring several exemplar connectors to understand the as-supplied condition of the connector and to develop an inspection protocol. An exemplar connector was cross sectioned to understand the interior make up of the hose and to assist in the design and manufacture of a durometer that could measure the hardness of the plastic interior materials.