New water heater got dinged during shipping/delivery. Is it usable?
Old one is leaking onto the floor, so I need to replace it fast. This is the new one and the delivery guy self-signed and left before I could talk to him.
The product description says it has a glass-lined tank. Could the glass coating have been damaged?
I would err on the side of caution and send this back. You'll have to go without hot water for a few days, but it's better than installing this just find it didn't work, or worse blow your house up.
No expert, but that looks like it took a pretty heavy hit. I probably wouldn't risk it. Depending on how bad the old one is leaking, you may want to turn the water off and deal with no water for a couple of days
Nope, anything where the box has a hole through it I refuse to accept the shipment. I've seen too many incidents where "it looks fine, it's a small hole" turn into a nightmare.
Something like this wouldn't cause an explosion, just a future failure point that could open up and leak. Explosions are pretty rare and caused by excess pressure in the tank, usually either a relief valve getting stuck or a thermostat malfunction.
I'd still get this unit replaced to avoid future headaches, but it wouldn't be an immediate safety risk.
Considering how problematic water heaters can be, I'd refuse shipment on that. Especially with the glass lining. It looks like someone hit it with a forklift or something.