3 Common Water Heater Problems

The simplest clue that you have a water heater problem is when you don’t have hot water. But this is not the problem; this is simply telling you that you have an issue with your water heater.

It’s a good idea to have your water heater serviced regularly by a professional firm. You can check out nswhotwater.com.au to see what types of service are on offer and even get them to take a look at your water heater problem.

Although it’s a good idea to leave the repairs to a professional it is also a good idea to know a little bit about what the issue could be. There are 3 extremely common water heater problems that you should know about:

No Hot Water

This is the biggest clue that there is an issue with your water heater and it is also the most inconvenient. It’s only once the hot water is gone that you appreciate how much you take it for granted.

No hot water means that your hot water heater is not coming on properly. You’ll need to establish what fuel source it uses and then check that there is fuel available. This means verifying that gas is coming into the boiler, there is oil in the tank or that the electric circuit is on.

If the fuel source is okay then there is a problem with the hot water heater and you’re likely to need professional help to resolve the issue.

Not Enough Hot Water

Another common problem and an annoying one is running out of water. This usually happens when there are multiple people in the household and everyone wants to take a shower or bath at the same time. If you have a tank based water heater then the heater won’t have time to heat the water again before the next person uses it. In effect the tank is too small to give you all the water you need.

Behrat [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], from Wikimedia Commons

If this is the case you’ll need to look at getting a bigger tank based water heater. The alternative is to have a tankless water heater. This heats the water as you need it so you should never run out of hot water. These systems are more expensive but can be a great solution.

Of course if you have a tankless system and you have no hot water then you have a problem with the water heater ad you’ll need professional help to sort it.

Temperature Wrong

Finally if you notice that the temperature has dropped or even increased then you may have developed a faulty thermostat.

The first step will be to adjust your thermostat and see if this corrects the issue. If it doesn’t then there is a good chance that the thermostat is faulty or that you have a buildup of sediment in your tank.

You’ll need to drain your water heater and flush it out to prevent bigger issues in the future. If this isn’t the issue then there is a good chance that one of your heating elements has failed and needs to be replaced.