You’re in the middle of a shower getting ready for work, and suddenly, the hot water disappears. We all know this feeling, and it can be frustrating, confusing, and especially uncomfortable. There may be a simple solution, however.
Homes receive hot water through their water heater, whether it’s an electric, gas, tankless, or conventional unit. You either have hot water on demand or get your water through a tank that is constantly keep it at an ideal temperature.
Blue Star Plumbing knows everything there is to know about the inner workings of your plumbing system, and we’ll help you get to the bottom of any issue. If you notice your water is leaving you out in the cold, it could be due to a number of reasons. These steps will help get your water back to prime shower temp.
Check the circuit breaker.
If you have an electric water heater, the first thing to check when experiencing hot water issues is your circuit breaker. A tripped circuit means the current was disrupted. As a safety measure, the circuit breaker flips.
You can easily tell once you’ve opened your circuit panel whether or not your water heater’s circuit breaker was tripped since if won’t be in the same position as your other breakers. To resolve this issue, flip the breaker off then on again and wait for your water to heat back up.
Reset your water heater.
You may notice the circuit breaker for your water heater gets tripped frequently. In this case, your water heater’s reset function, or high temperature cutoff, may be affected. Try to carefully reset your water heater by following these steps:
- You need to flip the water heater breaker to the off position to remove any risks of electrocution.
- Remove the panel on the upper half of the water heater without touching any wiring.
- Locate and press the red reset button.
This can always be performed by a professional. If you still can’t get your water heater back up in working order, then you will have to call a plumbing expert.
Find out if other people in your household were using hot water.
Conventional water heaters have a tank that typically holds about 40 gallons of water. Once that amount of hot water is gone, the tank may need time to heat more water. If you have a large household and everyone is using lots of hot water at the same time, it might just be that your tank dispersed the current supply of hot water and is filling back up with cold water.
Wait a little while to see if you can regain some hot water. If you do and you keep running out frequently, then your tank might not be big enough for your household.
Look for leaking water around your tank.
A common issue that causes water heaters to run out of hot water more quickly than usual is a leak around the lower part of the tank. You can easily spot a leak by inspecting the ground around your water heater.
Check for water in the compartments on your water heater.
A leak in your tank could flood the compartments of your water heater and cause damage to your thermostats. Check these areas by unscrewing the panels. If the thermostat inside was damaged, it will need to be replaced.
Turn the gas on.
If you have a gas water heater, check to make sure your gas is on and that there isn’t a gas leak. Alternatively, if the gas is on and you can smell a gas leak, turn off your gas valve immediately. Gas leaks should always be reported to your local fire department for safe measure.
Check the pilot light.
Pilot lights tend to go out if you have a faulty thermocouple on your water heater. Check your pilot light in the lower compartment of your water heater and relight following the instructions on the unit or in your manual. Newer models don’t have pilot lights but use ignitors, which can be looked at using your manual or handled by a professional.
Dealing with a problem once can be a hassle but dealing with it several times a month is excessive! Don’t let your water heater bog you down, call Blue Star to handle any reoccurring issues with your unit.