The water heater is about 14 years old and seems to work fine. There are no obvious leaks, rust stains and plenty of hot water. But the water where I live is very hard and I've heard the average life on a heater is about 10 years. I don't like to wait for emergencies to happen on the other hand there isn't any point in replacing something that is working.
2007-03-10 05:59:36 · 6 answers · asked by Signed 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Normally, you might see one of two clues that your water heater is going bad. Either it will just suddenly start leaking from the bottom of the tank or you will see a lot of corrosion forming at the bottom. Usually the water tank will corrode from the inside out. This is caused by the many impurities brought into the water heater by the water. As the water is heated, some of these impurities, like silica, iron, or magnesium, settle out from the warmer water. As the temperature of the water increases inside the tank, the water can no longer keep all the minerals in solution. As the warm water exits the heater through it's outlet connection, the colder water enters through the inlet connection and drops to the bottom of the heater's tank. This keeps the minerals and dirt at the cooler bottom of the tank and it eventually corrodes the materials of the heater at the lowest point.
Every water heater I've ever seen has a hose bib connection on the lower side of the tank. You should use this valve at least once a month to drain out about a gallon of water. This also causes some of the minerals to be drawn off from the tank and will prolong the life of the water heater. DO NOT USE THE SAFETY RELIEF VALVE HIGHER UP ON THE TANK TO DO THIS!!!!!!
If you ever see water at the bottom of the water heater, get help as quickly as possible before you have a flooded room where the heater is installed.
2007-03-10 06:21:46 · answer #1 · answered by NJGuy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Water Heater Symptoms
2016-12-11 21:02:23 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can pretty well say an electric hot water heater is done for when moisture starts appearing from within the casing around the unit. It is an indication of a leaky boiler. Other parts can fail but these can generally replacable like thermostats and elements. Its nice to know the workings of the thermostats. Both elements are not activated at once. The upper thermostat when unsatisfied directs power to the upper element and maintains it there until satisfied. Then it diverts power to the lower thermostat. If it is unsatisfied it diverts power to the bottom element until it too is satisfied. If an upper element fails you will get no hot water at all. If the lower element fails you will get a half tank of hot water. Voltage and continuity tests can be done to identify faulty electrical parts.
2016-03-18 04:29:20 · answer #3 · answered by Ellen 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My first water heater lasted about 15 years then the pipes started to bang when I ran the hot water-- time to replace it then
2007-03-10 08:26:24 · answer #4 · answered by shermisme 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
if it ain't broke don't fix it. 10 years is an average I have an 18 year old water heater in one of my units that still works fine. When it goes bad you will know. The only advice I can offer is to drain the water heater once a year to help clear out the sediment that collects in the bottom of it.
2007-03-10 06:04:11 · answer #5 · answered by Brian M 4 · 4⤊ 1⤋
i have hot water too.. mine pops all the time and has done so for a few years now.. amount of water is starting to run out.. but mine is in the basement and wont damage anything if it leaks. mine is 12yrs old. if i was worried about anything getting wet i would replace it soon. they dont cost that much and you still have time to shop around
2007-03-10 14:45:56 · answer #6 · answered by hometech02 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
shortly before mine gave out i had noticed it making popping cracking noises after using the hot water,
2007-03-10 07:00:38 · answer #7 · answered by kurt w 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋