Broken Water Heater

If you have an electric water heater and are experiencing difficulty we recommend that you shut off the power at the breaker before working with the tank.

Broken water heater.

Cloudy water often indicates a sediment buildup inside the tank and if the water remains cold a heating element may be broken. Your water heater is one of those things you don t think about until it breaks. Just flip the breaker to off. Water heaters have a dip tube that leads from the top of the water heater where the cold water enters and travels to the bottom of the tank where it s heated until the thermostat also located at the bottom of the tank senses the new water is at the right temperature to shut the heating source off.

When repairs are possible water heaters can occasionally be repaired by replacing a few key elements. Mineral build up inside the tank can keep the water from heating up properly. Noise as a water heater is used hard sediments can build up leading to noise when the unit is trying to heat water. If the dip tube is broken the water won t heat up properly.

You can check the dip tube by removing the cold water supply line and taking the dip tube out of the tank source. Cold water cold water can mean a number of things like a pilot light being out a tripped circuit breaker a broken thermostat or a faulty heating element. And the last thing you need during the holidays is water heater problems or worse a broken water heater. If your tank doesn t need flushing you might want to check the heater s dip tube.

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