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The Handyguys answer questions about Hot water heaters (or is it “cold water” heater?) and discuss basic water heater maintenance.
Please note: The Handyguys apologize for some technical difficulties which led to a broadcast with some snap, crackle and pops. We expect next week’s podcast to have this problem corrected.
Brian and Paul discuss the maintenance of your hot water heater. Everyone owns one but you don’t always get instructions on how to maintain the heater in your home. We just expect it to work and it usually does. However, every hot water heater will fail at some point and you will typically discover this one day when you have to settle for a cold shower. Even worse, you end up with water leaking all over your basement floor from the hot water tank.
The Handyguys own gas water heaters but much of what they discuss in this episode applies to both electric and gas water heaters.
What are the key components of a hot water heater? How do you maintain the heater? Are there maintenance tips to prolong the life of our heater and avoid the expensive plumber bill? The Handyguys discuss these basic questions in the first half of the podcast. In addition to basic water heater maintenance, a sad story about an electrocution caused by a faulty water heater is discussed.
The Handyguys also answer a couple listener questions about finicky gas hot water heaters with pilot lights that keep going out. Check out this weeks podcast on hot water heaters.
As always – you can click on a thumbnail image for a full size view. If you like our podcasts please consider shopping in our Amazon store for your next online purchase or support our advertisers. Thanks – The Handyguys
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I heard some strange pinging noises coming from the basement the other day and was afraid it might be the hot water tank.
I have visions of it spewing out water (like our old one did) when I’m here by myself and I wont’ know what to do. I’ve read the emergency instructions on the tank…but in an emergency will I know what to do…LOL.
Your blog is full of great information and I’ve subscribed.
Thanks for your kind words about our podcast. Pinging of hot water pipes is usually caused when pipes heat a cool they expand and contract. The expansion and contraction will cause a little rubbing where they are attached to joists. Its usually nothing to worry about. Regardless – Its always a good idea to be familiar with the operation of the systems in your house, especially where to turn off the water, electric and gas.
The Handyguys
My hot water heater bowed at the bottom of the tank and forced the tank upward which caused the pipes to leak. Could you tell me what would cause this?
Sandra – Time for a new water heater. It was caused by too much pressure in the tank. In this post there is a picture of a T&P (temperature and pressure) valve. The valve failed to open or is missing. The pressure could have been caused by excessive heat (bad thermostat) or excessive water pressure in the house. Check out our show where we talk about too much water pressure.
http://www.handyguyspodcast.com/902/episode-97-water-pressure-fixing-a-wall-and-a-new-tool
Good luck and let us know if you have any further questions.
I have a question so stupid that I would be too embarrassed to ask anyone I know face to face. I work a maintenance in a trailer house park in deep south Texas where it never freezes well hardly ever. Anyway I hook up new homes. I hook up only one pipe to the house and that’s the one to the water heater. I can not figure out where the cold water comes from if all the water is run through the heater. See I told you it is a really stupid question.
Ted
Well, I assume that no one is complaining they don’t have unheated water. As long as they do have cold water then there MUST be a tee fitting splitting the cold from the supply to the water heater.
We have an A.O. Smith water heater 75 gal circa 2000 and have been getting small white crystals caught in our filters. Neighbors do not have this problem and the water company says this is the water heater with the elements dissolving. Also the water in the shower goes cold if someone is using the sink
Please advise – is this a safety issue?
Roger O’Callaghan
Yes, this is either the anode rods nearing end of life or the heating elements (if its electric).
Both are easy to replace. I would first start with the anode rods. An anode rod is a sacrificial rod that dissolves before corrosive water can damage other internal parts to the water heater.
See http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/pages/WHRpages/English/Longevity/water-heater-anodes.html
If the rod is completely gone and you have an electric water heater you may also need to replace the element(s) (Probably two, one near the top, one near the bottom)
http://www.applianceblog.com/mainforums/water-heaters/21931-there-anything-wrong-my-o-smith-heater-2.html
Also, while working on the water heater, you should drain the tank to remove sediment from the bottom.
Good luck
Handyguy Brian
I was trying to shut off the main valve for water running into the house and turned the knob on the cold water pipe that goes into the water heater. It doesnt matter which way i turn the knob its leaking. What do i do?
Righty tighty to shut it off (Clockwise). If it doesnt shut off it will need to be repaired or replaced. You will need to shut off your main supply to do that job.
Hi!
I think my problem might be answered above, but thought I better ask anyways. I just had a 40 gallon AO Smith gas water heater installed on my second floor and for the first few weeks it worked great. Actually it still works great, but whenever the pilot light comes on, it makes this loud noise. Sometimes it sounds like a ping and sometimes its a vibration and mostly it’s just a loud noise for a few seconds. It only happens when it lites and the hot water starts coming out of the faucet. The guy who installed it said he didn’t know what it was, but claims to have talked to the manufacturer and they said its a common problem due to something being the way. They are supposedly going to call me and send a technician out, but when I spoke to them yesterday they said they don’t do that. Any ideas on what this noise might be?
Yes, its likely caused by the expansion of the pipes as they warm up. See if you can identify roughly where the sound comes from. if its from the pipes or near the top of the tank then that’s likely the issue.
Thanks for the response! I can’t tell where the sound is coming from, but it only happens after the heater has been sitting for awhile. If you relight the tank over and over again, you won’t hear the noise. If it is the metal expanding, will the sound ever go away? It’s a very creepy sound. I also received a call from the guy who installed it saying he talked to the manufacturer about it. They supposedly claim they know of this problem and will send a technician out to fix it. Something about a piece being in the way, which causes it to make the noise. It’s been a week since he told me they would call and nothing so far, so I think he’s just making up stuff at this point.
Kristine – I’m not sure what you mean about re-lighting the tank over and over again. There should be a pilot light or an electronic igniter that does its thing automatically.
Once the burner ignites it begins heating the water. This happens automatically based on a thermostat. When the water cools the burner comes on, it goes off when the water reaches the set temp.
When metal gets warm it expands, when it cools it contracts. When you take a shower, run a dishwasher or otherwise draw hot water, the pipes that were cold now become warm and they expand a bit. Sometimes you can hear this expansion. It can be sudden all at once sounding or it can be a more subtle sound. The sound it makes will depend on what the pipe is touching as it expands or contracts. Sometimes it sounds like the sound that crumpling aluminum foil makes. Sometimes it sounds like the sound tapping a screwdriver to a pipe would make.
It would be really cool if you could make a recording of the sound and email it to us. We could play it on the show.
Is this a new sound? Did it make it with the old water heater? Is the sound inside, underneath or above the water heater? Is the sound near the water heater but not from any part of the water heater?
I talked to the manufacturer and it sounds like a common problem with their water heaters – A.O. Smith. Their response is below.
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When I asked if this was something I could do myself, their response was….”It is not, the burner has to be removed to access the brackets and the spring. ” If the burner has to be removed, does that mean I have to drain my water heater or at least shut it down?
If there’s one thing I’ve learned since installing my water heater, it’s that the warranty really doesn’t cover anything besides the parts, so it’s basically useless. If I call a service company to come fix this issue (that is obviously a design problem that A.O. Smith should be handling), it will cost me another $200 if not more. So much for this being a quality product.
These comments should have been listed in the above comments, but for some reason they didn’t show up. The response from the manufacturer was this…
“Based on the information provided that it sounded like the brackets that hold the burner in place during shipping is causing the noise, the brackets cannot be removed, but the spring inside the brackets can loosened to help with the noise.”
Hi, I have a GE water heater and this morning we heard a very loud vibrating noise coming from the water pipe in the wall that leads to the tank. What is this? It sounds like a helicopter in our house.
Hmmm, could be several things
I would suspect a bad washer. Does it only happen with one faucet or shower? Washers can get worn and loose and vibrate or pulsate causing the water to pulse and surge causing a pipe to vibrate.
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