The lowest temperature recorded in Fort Worth, US, is minus 7 degrees Fahrenheit. Imagine this winter bringing a similar day or even colder. And also imagine your water heater not working that particular day. What an absolute freezing disaster!
To avoid this from ever happening, you need to first choose a water heater wisely. Next, you need to educate yourself. Understand and learn how the appliance works. This might help you to fix a few things on your own without paying for professional help.
In case your water heater isn’t heating water properly, these are the few things that could be wrong with it.
Broken Gas Valve
Sometimes, the gas valve doesn’t work as it should. There could be a lot of reasons for this. It could be a problem with the temperature sensor on the valve, or sometimes it may be malfunctioning to a point where it isn’t sending any gas to the pilot valve.
In either case, the gas valve on the heater would need to be replaced.
Dirty Flame Sensor
Flame sensors are actually handy safety features in some of the new heaters. They detect whether the flame is burning or not in the heater. This is because a burnt out flame could lead to a gas leak. A flame sensor smartly shuts off the heater if it detects no flame. Thus, preventing potential gas poisoning or explosions.
The problem is that, at times, the sensor malfunctions. Dust or carbon often coats the sensor’s surface and leave it unable to sense the flame, so it gets tricked and shuts the heater off.
PRV Leakage
This is a very common issue that occurs from time to time. A pressure relief valve is again the right safety feature. When your burner overheats the water, causing it to boil, steam starts forming. This valve helps to release that steam; without it, your entire heater could explode.
But sometimes, this valve starts to leak and needs to be replaced. The nice bit about this is that it isn’t a very costly repair and will not actually deprive you of any hot water. But it’s a problem with a lot of potential danger, so it needs fixing.
Inner Tank Leaking
This is the worst thing that could happen to a water heater. When the inner tank is leaking, you will most likely identify this problem at once because there will be a puddle around the heater.
Unfortunately, there is no fix for this; you will have to replace the whole heater.
But fortunately, you’re in luck because we, at Pro Serve Plumbing, are at your service 24/7/365. We’ll have a new heater up and working for you in no time at all. Stop freezing and give us a call! We’re also pros at Commercial Plumbing Services in Fort Worth.
