Pro Handyman Blog

Water Heater Trouble

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Many water heaters have been replaced prematurely due to an inexperienced person trying to diagnose and fix the problem. Common sense and isolating the problem would go a long way in determining the problem and ultimately how to fix it. This advice is also good for the problems that we all face in our everyday lives.

So here is what happened...a homeowner reported water heater trouble; he is not getting much hot water. It is not as hot as it once was, nor does it last very long. The homeowner tells me that this has been going on for several weeks and in fact he replaced the water heater just last week and it still is doing the same thing....I'm seeing a pattern here.

I went to the property and sure enough the water heater was brand new. When I looked at it, the burner was firing and didn't stop. I realized what was happening. I asked him about his water bill. Sure enough, his water bill was MUCH higher than normal, as was his gas bill. I went to the street, pulled off the water meter cover and the meter was moving like crazy. I told him he had a slab leak on the hot water line. I turned off the valve supplying water to the water heater and the meter stopped moving.

What was happening was since there was a leak in the hot water line AFTER the water heater, the water was constantly running through the water heater and out of the broken pipe under the slab. The water never stayed in the tank long enough to get warm. This explains the water heater constantly firing and the high gas bill. The high water bill obviously was from the leak in the pipe flowing 24/7.

Had the homeowner isolated the problem and figured out that his high utility bills and water heater were all related, he wouldn't have replaced the water heater and saved some cash.