Symptoms of Hot Water Heater Problems

You need to wash your hands, so you turn on the faucet as you always do only to discover that there is no hot water! This is one of those scenarios everyone dreads. The next step is trying to figure out the problem. Perhaps the water heater can be fixed. If not, they are certainly expensive to replace.

Safety Warning - Cut off power to the house at the fuse box before troubleshooting.

The First Symptoms

If you wake up one morning to discover there is no hot water, as you stand there naked and waiting or only get lukewarm water, that's one problem. If you come home to discover a puddle of water coming from the water heater, that's an entirely different problem. These are the first symptoms of trouble. 

No Hot Water or Only Warm Water

The Breaker - Check the one that services your water heater, if it is tripped or off, you found the problem. Either the breaker is defunct or some electrical problem tripped it. You have to figure out which has happened. If it's tripped and won't stay on, call in a qualified electrician for troubleshooting a potentially more serious problem.

The Wiring - Though it's not probable that the wiring is bad, it's not a bad idea to check it and the connections with the power off. 

The Heating Elements - These screw into the side of the water heater and can fail. You have to drain the tank to replace these, and only one may be bad. Pull them out and see if they are coated in lime scale. If so, clean them up. Replace if bad.

Lastly, it could be the thermostat. Have a professional take care of that, if so.

Leaking Water

If this is happening, there is most likely a pinhole in the inner tank. You can look around to see if a seal is broken around a heating element or other sealable area first. If it's coming from inside, replace the water heater.