Water Heater Service

When there’s no hot water, it means that your hot water heater has stopped functioning entirely. This can happen quickly or it can fade out over time, but no matter how it happens, there are several things that could go wrong.

First, check the voltage coming into your hot water heating system. If there’s no voltage at all, you may have a bad circuit breaker or a bad switch. Breakers can suffer damage over time, or the breaker that you have for your hot water heater might be too small. If it can’t handle enough amps to keep your water heater running, it will flip and your hot water will disappear. Replace the breaker with one that works and that can handle the required amperage.

Hot water heaters also fail when there are grounding problems. Something may have accidentally grounded or shorted a wired connection in your heater, or your thermostat or heating element could have grounded out. If you can’t find any accidental groundings, you may want to try to get these two parts replaced.

You could also have a problem with the reset button on your hot water heater. If it is tripped, it makes a definite click when you push it. You may have just had a power surge, in which case resetting it will start your heater again. However, continued problems may mean that you have a faulty thermostat. If it seems to reset constantly, try replacing this piece of the system.

Wire shorts and water leaks are also common causes of hot water heater failure. If you can replace the damaged wires or stop the leak, you may be able to repair your system. Otherwise, you may need to purchase a new hot water heater.

Sometimes, your hot water won’t disappear altogether, but you will notice that it doesn’t get as hot as it used it. Often, this means that the lower heating element in your hot water heater isn’t working.

To test this, first turn off all electricity to your heater. Remove all access covers. There are usually two, one for the upper part and one for the lower. Use a voltage meter to be absolutely sure that the power is off. Check the elements by simply touching the tank near where they are located. For both the upper and lower heating elements, the tank should be hot to the touch, especially right next to the element. If one tank is significantly cooler than the other, then you know which heating element is not working.

What most of us think of as a water heater – the large, cylindrical object that you were told not to touch as a child – is a tank water heater. The cylinder is the tank, and it stores and heats water for your home. Tankless water heaters, on the other hand, do not store water. They are “on demand” systems, only heating water when it is needed. They are much more compact since they don’t have to store water, and usually take up only a few square feet of space on a wall somewhere.

It can be hard to believe, but tankless water heaters are actually more efficient than traditional water heaters with tanks. They use less energy, because there is less energy lost by storing and reheating the water in the tank. While they are more expensive, most people find that they can easily recoup that extra cost in energy savings. Tankless water heaters also have long lifespans. While they are a newer technology, many are well made and, when installed and maintained properly, can provide you with hot water for a very long time.

If you have a professional plumber in Sarasota working on your hot water heater, they will also test each element with an electric meter. This will determine whether the element has electrical continuity and whether it is drawing the right amperage and voltage.

You may need to replace a heating element even if you only have water temperature problems when the weather is cold. Colder outdoor temperatures mean that the water coming into your home is colder, so your hot water heater has to work harder to keep it at the temperatures you desire. If one element isn’t working well, the heater may not be able to keep up during times when you are using a lot of hot water, simply because of the amount that the temperature has to rise to warm the water.