Cold showers on a winter day are no fun. We rely on our hot water heaters, and we don’t think about them failing. When they do, and the problem is not obvious, it is time to call a professional water heater repair technician. Neither gas nor electric water heaters are appliances a homeowner should attempt to repair. The problems with a gas heater will be determined by its age. For example, newer gas heaters have an electronic ignition, which is the pilot light. Older models have the gas pilot light, which is lit by a match.
If the pilot light goes out on an older model, you can probably relight it by following the instructions on the tank. If it doesn’t light after several attempts, then you may need a thermocouple. A thermocouple is a device that measures the gas flow in the burner chamber. If the pilot light went out, the thermocouple will shut the gas supply off. This keeps the gas from building up and then exploding when the tank is finally operational. The thermocouple ensures gas supplied to the water heater is not allowed to accumulate, but rather ensures it is burned immediately. The new tanks also use a thermocouple.
A water heater repair technician can check the thermocouple, and he can replace it if it is not working. Since this is such an important part of the heater, it must be installed correctly. A professional Water Heater Repair service in San Francisco, CA should handle this installation.
The amount of hot water available can be affected by a broken plastic dip tube. This tube forces the cold water to the bottom of the tank where it can be heated directly above the flame. If this tube cracks near the top of the tube, then cold water will drain out and mix with water that is already heated. This will result in lowering the temperature of the heated water. A Water Heater Repair service in San Francisco, CA can cover this issue as well.
When water is leaking from the bottom of the tank, the problem could be a broken relief valve, a damaged gasket, or the tank bottom can be rusting out. When sediment builds, up the tank will fail eventually.
