Inside drip from hot water heater

beaubeau wrote:
Hi! We have a leak under our bathroom sink. We have removed the vanity floor and can see a drip from the hot water heater. Can't really see much - it's very tight in there. We went outside and can see there is no drip at all on the outside of the HW heater -- it's not the pop-off valve, for instance.

We the removed the interior access panel and can see lots of water in the floor (the water is finding it's way from there, under the tile, and into the bathroom floor). We can see the cold water inlet and the hot water outlet -- the leak does NOT appear to be coming from either of those fittings.

So, do the tanks themselves ever fail?

Is there something I can check with just the outside access?

Thanks for any help...

-chip