Author: Elicia Teller
Do you find yourself noticing water around the bottom of your water heater, you might be able to repair it on your own. A leaky hot water heater is only one problem that you could experience, but it should be fixed as fast as possible. The very first thing you should do is determine the spot where the leak is coming from. A lot of people think that they have to replace the water heater when it starts to leak, but in many instances a small leak can be fixed.
It is very common for a hot water heater to begin leaking. Some of the most common locations that we see a water heater leaking from are the base of the hot water heater, the plumbing pipes on top of the hot water heater and finally from the relief valve. Two of these leaks will often be easily repaired and one may require replacement. Hot Water Heater Leaking – The way to Fix It:
The first potential leak we will talk about is one which you find coming from the base of the tank itself. Ninety-nine percent of the time if you see a water heater leaking from the base it should get replaced. Why? Simply because its usually do to deterioration and rust. A water heater is simply a storage tank that holds water, after years of holding water the tank can begin to rust and deteriorate which results in leaks and in many cases appliance malfunction. There’s not any other way to repair tank corrosion and if it’s at the point of leaking, you might want to just go out and purchase yourself a new hot water heater.
Now lets discuss the plumbing near the top of the water tank. Should you be noticing that the pipes entering into and out from the tank are dripping, this is actually your lucky day. In most instances this leak can be fixed by simply using a wrench and tightening up the pipe fittings. If the connections are already tight, or tightening seemed to have little to no effect, don’t get worried, you can easily still fix this. The very first thing you have to do is turn-off the power to the water heater in addition to the water supply. Once everything is turned off, use the relief valve to discharge any pressure built-up inside the tank. You can now undo the connection that’s leaking and wrap those pipe threads with a little plumbers tape, which is sold at just about any home improvement store. Ensure that the threads are completely covered and you just want to go around them several times with the tape. Now just put the pipe together again and tighten it up. Turn everything on again and see if the leak persists.
We should also talk about where to start if you find the water heater leaking from the relief valve. If the water is coming from the actual spout on the valve this may not be an issue. The relief valve was designed to allow water and excessive pressure to discharge from the tank and sometimes it happens. However, you should also check out the temperature settings to ensure that the tank isn’t turned up to high and be sure the water heater is functional by turning on your faucets in the house and checking the water temperature. Periodically, relief valves do need to get replaced, but this doesn’t happen very often.
If you believe that the hot water heater leaking is caused by a defective relief valve, you can easily pick up a new one at just about any hardware store or plumbing supply store.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/what-you-can-do-whenever-you-find-your-hot-water-heater-leaking-5003494.html
About the Author
Author Hong Polek spent the majority of his life working in the plumbing business. If you are having problems with your hot water heater leaking, finding water on the ground surrounding your hot water heater or have observed the hot water heater just isn’t working as it used to well then, your in luck. Stop by my site now to see the right way to repair those issues forever. You can visit us online at: water heater is leaking
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