What Do You Do When There's No Hot Water?
When you find that there’s no hot water in the house, the situation can turn into a real pain. No one likes taking cold showers, but it also affects other chores and activities around your home. Fixing hot water issues can feel intimidating for many homeowners, but there are a few things you can do to try to resolve the problem yourself before you give your plumber a call to fix your water heater.
When There’s No Hot Water in the House
If someone in your home loves taking long, scalding hot showers or when you’re running multiple appliances at once that use hot water, the supply will run out eventually. This is especially true for older water heaters. Water heaters heat the water that’s filled in the tanks — once you use it all, the heater has to refill the tank and heat it again.
After noticing the water in your shower, sink or other appliance isn’t heating up enough, just wait. Before assuming the water heater is broken or malfunctioning, give it some time to see if the hot water comes back.
Depending on the type of water heater that you have, there are several causes of hot water not working in your home. When your hot water is not working, the most common problem is an issue with your water heater. Fortunately, there are ways to check and test your hot water heaters when you have no hot water!
Electric Water Heater Issues
You can try a few tricks with electric water heaters that may bring back your hot water. Like other electronics, doing a reset may return the heater to normal working order. Try a soft reset first — turn off the water heater, wait about five minutes, then turn it back on. After that, wait some more to see if the appliance heats any water.
If the soft reset doesn’t work, you can try a hard reset. Go to the circuit board in your home and flip off the switch that powers your water heater. Wait about a minute, then flip it back. If it doesn’t flip back properly, the issue may be in the circuit board instead of your water heater.
Gas Water Heater Issues
A pilot light powers gas water heaters. If it gets blown out accidentally, the system won’t work right. If this happens, relighting it should get it working again. If the pilot light is still going, check out the thermocouple. This device is a safety mechanism that could block the flow of gas into the heater.
When the water heater itself doesn’t seem like the problem, there may be an issue with the gas line. If there are any blockages, misaligned gas lines or other problems, your gas company will need to get involved.
Fixing Hot Water Issues
When there is still no hot water and you have tried several tricks, you need to call a local plumber to help you. Choose Ranck Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning to find the issue with your water heater and either fix the problem or recommend a replacement. When your hot water is not working, you can call us at 717-397-2577 or contact us online to learn more about our services or to schedule your appointment.