Water Heater Woes at Christmas

So I was uploading photos from my camera and found this little beauty.  This is our old water heater
See all the rust looking stuff at the bottom?  Over Christmas we had a plumber come out and inspect the whole house to see if anything was wrong.
The water heater was the first thing he checked, and I, in my recent graduatedness with a masters degree in MEP systems (the "P" standing for plumbing), was tagging along to look knowledgeable.
When he saw the water heater he got really quiet.  Then he asked if I knew what it was and I responded with "rust."  I mean what else could it be?

Well apparently it meant fire.  As in flames were shooting up out of the bottom of the water heater and going up the side.

In other words the water heater had to be replaced.  That very day.

Thankfully the flames hadn't ever reached the gas line . . . and thankfully the plumber had a new water heater on his truck ready to install that very day, and let me tell you he was spectacular at installing it!  He welded new copper pipes together and changed valves and connected everything and installed the new water heater by himself in five hours.  If you ever need a water heat replaced in NOVA let us know and we'll tell you the guy's name.

We think the flame shield in this water heater had fallen over in the earthquake and caused the flame to get lose.  But a new water heater was installed and is working just fine.  The water even heats up faster than before! (stupid previous home owners who never drained their water heater . . . ).

And yes I occasionally still go down and check that there are no flames coming out of the new one. Just in case.

So if your water heater looks like this, IT IS NOT RUST!  Call a plumber immediately!  Thank you :)