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No hot water — what to check before you buy a new heater
A water heater that has stopped producing hot water is more often a failed part than a failed tank. The difference is a few hundred dollars against a few thousand.
A water heater that has stopped producing hot water is more often a failed part than a failed tank. The difference is a few hundred dollars against a few thousand.
Look through the small window at the base for a lit pilot. A pilot that has gone out and relights normally may just have been blown out. A pilot that lights and then dies as soon as you release the control knob is the classic failed thermocouple — an inexpensive part and a routine repair. A pilot that will not light at all points at the gas supply or the control valve. Check first that the gas shutoff serving the heater is actually open; it gets closed during other work and forgotten.
Check the breaker. Then check the reset button — there is a small red button behind the upper access panel on most units, and a high-temperature cutout that has tripped is a common and simple cause. If it trips again immediately after resetting, stop, leave it off, and have it looked at. Electric heaters have two elements; a failed lower element typically gives you a small amount of hot water that runs out very fast, while a failed upper element usually gives you none at all.
This is usually sediment. Scale from Fort Bend County's hard water collects in the bottom of the tank and occupies volume that used to hold water, so a 50-gallon tank behaves like a 35-gallon one. A flush sometimes recovers a useful amount of that capacity. A dip tube that has broken down is the other common cause and is a repair rather than a replacement.
Water pooling under the unit, coming from the tank body rather than from a fitting or the relief valve, means the tank has corroded through. There is no repair for that. Rusty hot water, or a tank well past ten years that is also leaking, points the same way.
On most units yes, and the instructions are printed on the unit. If you smell gas, do not — leave the house and call the gas utility from outside.
Eight to twelve years is the usual manufacturer figure. Hard water without annual flushing tends to land you at the short end of it.
It is worth attending to promptly. Sometimes the valve itself has failed; sometimes it is doing its job because pressure or temperature in the tank is too high, which is a problem you want diagnosed rather than capped.
Send the details and we'll route it to a licensed local contractor.