When you turn on your water at home looking for hot water, but only get cold, it can be a bit of a problem. This is especially true if you are trying to take a shower. Nobody wants to take a cold shower. If your water is not getting hot, or takes a long time to get hot, it may be an issue with your hot water heater. Read on for troubleshooting tips if you are experiencing these or other common problems with your system.
Water Taking Too Long To Warm Up
If your water is taking too long to warm up, it may be a problem with the heating element in your water heater. Over time sediment may build up in your water heater. This sediment will settle to the bottom of your system and cover up the heating element. When this happens, the water will take much longer to heat up. To remedy this issue you will need to shut off the power to your water heater, turn off the gas and shut off the water going to the system. Then carefully drain the water out, being careful as the water is going to be very hot. Once the water is removed, use a shop vacuum to suck out as much sediment as possible. Once you have much of the sediment removed, close the drainage valve, then turn on the water and finally the gas. Test your water after you allow the water heater to fill up and run for a little while. If you still have a problem, call a professional HVAC technician for help.
Water Not Heating Up At All
If you aren't getting any hot water at all from your system, it could be that your gas is not on or the pilot light isn't turned on. Check your pilot light and also check that the gas is turned on. You can also check the thermostat on the system. Turn up the temperature of the water. If none of these things fixes the problem, consider the year of your system. If it's on the older side such as older than 15 years, it may be time to invest in a new system.
Water Is Scalding Hot
If the water coming out of your tap is scalding hot, you can look the the thermostat and adjust the temperature as needed. Scalding hot water can be dangerous, especially if you have younger children in your home.
These are just a few issues you could have with your water heater over its lifetime. If you have issues that you aren't able to troubleshoot on your own, hire a professional HVAC repair technician for help.
