Troubleshoot Your Water Heater Before Calling for Help

You depend on your water heater to provide for all of your hot water needs, including bathing, cooking and washing clothes and dishes. Many of the problems that occur with hot water heaters can be solved by the homeowner before calling for a repair technician to come out and fix it. Before you spend the money on a service call, use these tips to help troubleshoot your water heater problems.

• Check the area around your hot water heater. Is there a draft of cold air? Is your hot water heater in your basement? You can solve a cold air draft easily by caulking the windows in the basement and making sure no cold drafts are affecting the performance of your hot water heater.
• Insulate the pipes leading from your water heater to your home. Many times the cold weather, even in the Orlando area, can affect the quality of the hot water in your home. You can get pipe insulation and install it easily to troubleshoot your water heater performance issues.
• Check the dip tube to be sure it is not cracked. This is a plastic tube that supplies cold water to your hot water heater. It should be toward the bottom of your unit. Pieces of plastic may show up in your aerators if the dip tube is cracked. You can replace the dip tube yourself before you call for help.
• Tuck your hot water heater in for the winter. You can get a blanket made for hot water heaters and wrap your unit up to increase the temperature of your water by 10 degrees without turning the setting up. This will not only give you hot water, but save you money on your energy bill.

These are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot your water heater problems before you call a service technician. If you have any questions about your water heater, contact the experts at Rinaldi’s Energy Solutions. We’d be happy to help you.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Orlando, Florida and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about Troubleshooting Your Water Heater and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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