What Happens When You Ignore A Water Heater Leak?
When the water heater leaks, it creates a serious situation. If this leak lasts for a long period, it can damage the quality of walls, floors, and all the valuable furniture of your home. As a homeowner, it’s your responsibility to fix the leak first. But before fixing this, it is essential to learn where it comes from and how to prevent it.
By learning this, you can not only save your time but your energy too. The causes of leaks are easy to identify if you have little knowledge about them. But if you don’t have any ideas about this, hire the water heater repair specialists in Santa Ana.
Water heaters are really dangerous when they leak from the top & bottom. Like any other appliance, it also breaks down over time and needs replacement. No one wants to bathe in a cold shower in winter. So, before it completely stops working or damages your worthy stuff at your home, you need to replace them or repair them by calling a professional water heater repair service.
In this article, we are going to talk about the minor and major leaks as well as when you need to ask for water heater repair services. This article will help you to decide what to do if you face a situation like this.
What Are The Causes Of Leakage In Water Heaters?
The causes of water heater leaks depend upon multiple factors. Sometimes the problems are small, while sometimes, it is tough to handle for homeowners. For some people, it is really tough to buy a new water heater. Here we define a few of the reasons that cause water heaters to leak.
Old Tank
If your water heater tank is older than ten years, the issue of leakage is common. As the age of the tanker increases, most of the parts wear out. The water heater can’t keep the warmth as well, and as a result, the leak occurs. As it is becoming older, the rusts are formed in the bottom of the tank. This rust creates corrosion, and the water exits through the cracks. In this case, the only thing anyone can do is replace it!
Increase Pressure
Similar to the other plumbing fixtures, the water heaters deal with the natural pressure of the water. The pressure that occurs in water heaters creates steam and fills the space, which is empty. When the steam can’t go anywhere, and the pressure becomes too much, it cracks the water heater and relieves the pressure, and leakage occurs. So, overall when the temperature is high, the pressure inside the water heater increases.
Drain Valve
When you call a water heater maintenance technician in Santa Ana to visit to inspect water heater issues, they use the drain valve to empty the tank. After emptying, they clean them. This valve loosens over time and becomes the main reason for the water leakage. In this situation, you can install a new valve by hiring an experienced plumber.
Faulty Temperature
Water heater leaks were also caused due to the faulty temperature and pressure relief valve. This valve is widely beneficial to relieve the pressure inside the tank. If this valve doesn’t work, the pressure inside the tank increases; as a result, it creates leakage. Sometimes the valve only requires a tightening, while sometimes, you need to change them.
Bad Connections
Poor inlet and outlet connection is also a big cause of water leakage. The cold water enters the inlet connection, while the hot water goes out to the outlet connection. In this process, some of the water droplets enter the water fixtures over time and loosen the connection that creates water leakage.
Collection Of Sediment
As the age of the water heater increases, it starts collecting the sediments. These sediments get collected at the bottom of the tank. But if you are cleaning the tank regularly, then this is not your case. Well, for those who don’t clean their tank for years, they might go through this situation. So, clean your tank regularly by hiring water heater repair services in Santa Ana.
Issues In Internal Tank
The tank water heater uses two kinds of shells, one is internal, and another is an external shell. If you have some issues in the internal tank, then it is difficult to detect yourself. These kinds of issues mostly occur because of age and elevate the chances of water leakage.
Cracked Storage Tank
Some of the water heaters crack due to the increased age. While some of the water heaters expand the amount of water they hold, and therefore, it creates cracks. When the water becomes hot, it expands the stress on the tank and causes cracks. Replacements are necessary in this case. Along with that, the leakage also occurs when the anode rod becomes nonexistent.
Where To Look For Water Heater Leaks?
When it comes to water heater leakage, the location of the leakage allows the plumber to take effective steps. Without knowing the issue, a water heater maintenance expert in Santa Ana can’t repair things. It is good for the homeowners to understand what this leak means and where to look.
Condensation
Before calling out a plumber, first, you need to determine whether the water is leaking due to condensation or an actual leak. The condensation occurs when the temperature of the room increases. But at the same time, if the tank is very hot, it may tear and crack; as a result, it produces water leakage.
Undetermined Location
Sometimes, it is tough to determine where the water leaks from. In this case, you don’t have any option rather than to call an experienced water heater repair technician in Santa Ana. When the pressure of the water tank increases inside the water, it forms tiny cracks. So, in these cases, it is tough to detect tiny cracks.
Bottom Leaks
If the bottom of the water heater is damaged and collects a lot of sediments, then it needs replacement. The drain valve causes these water heater leaks because of the loosen connection. In this case, you need a replacement to enjoy hot water without any hassles.
Top Leaks
Does the water leak from the top of the tank? If yes, check the inlet and outlet connections. Along with that, anode rod corrosion and lost T&P valves are other reasons for leakage.
Leaks In The Tank
Last but not least, you should check inside the tank wall. It is tough to check the whole wall of the tank from the outside. The major factors that play a role in the cracks inside the wall of the tank are deterioration. Hire a water heater repair expert in Santa Ana to inspect the issue and avail optimum solutions to fix it.
What Steps You Can Take To Prevent Water Heater Leaks?
As a homeowner, you need to take so many steps from your side to prevent these leaks. You can easily prevent these leaks by taking some easy steps. But before resolving the situation, you should take the above-discussed steps to inspect where the issues arise from. The most important part of leak identification is dealing with the different risk options. By taking the necessary preventive measures, you can keep your home safe.
Tighten Up The Parts
If you are frustrated by wiping the water leakage from the water tank, you need to take some initiative. The first thing you can do is tighten all the components and check out if any connection is still loose. This is the only thing anyone can do at the first stage of maintenance.
Preventative Maintenance
Regular maintenance is the solution to all these factors. You need to hire the plumbers for the regular maintenance that offers assured services. When you hire a professional service for maintaining the water tank regularly, they will inspect the entire HVAC system. They also check the water tank walls and the bottom part. They clean and assure you that there will be no leaks shortly.
Clean Tank
A clean water heater tank is the best thing you can try for. When you do not clean a tank, it can crack due to the collection of sediments. So, as a homeowner, you need to clean this from time to time. For this, you need to rely on professional assistance to avoid mistakes and ensure efficient cleaning.
They will use the drain valve to empty the water and then clean this. In this way, you can improve the quality of your water too. The sediment collection can damage the quality of your tank, too, so try to clean it regularly.
Respond Quickly
When you perform a quick response, you can get rid of so many things. By taking the instant steps, you can ensure that you will never face harsh situations. If the leakage lasts for a long period of time, it can create a situation like a flood. When the pressure build-up inside the tank, the heater may explode due to increasing pressure. These situations need a smart mind that can respond instantly.
Regular Water Heater Maintenance
Along with the other factors, you should also check the efficiency of the water heater. As a homeowner, you need to check the maintenance and inspect the water heater whether it is in good condition or not.
Besides all of the above situations, you need to check the cracks, loose parts, and deal with any sediment collection. You should keep your eyes on inspecting the issues and try to solve them from your side. If the issue still remains constant, you need to hire professionals.
Things You Will Experience If You Ignore The Water Heater Leak
Are you going through a water heater failure? When it comes to water heater failures, a little maintenance is always needed. Here we mentioned a few things that you will experience if you ignore the leakage.
1. Lack of Hot Water
Once you ignore the water heater leak, you feel the lack of lukewarm water. Every one of us loves to bathe with lukewarm water, but when there are constant issues that arise in the water heater, you need to forget that. Most of the standard hot water tanks contain 30 to 50-gallon storage tanks.
Once the water is heated, the sediments and the water minerals separate and settle at the bottom. Over time, it creates a barrier and serious issues. When you don’t clean the tank so many times, it builds up so many sediments and ceases to operate. A costly water bill can also give a sign of a water heater leak. To overcome these things, you need to replace the water tank.
2. Rumbling Noises
When you ignore the water heater tank, you may also experience the rumbling noise. If your water heater is making sounds like creaking, popping, and all you need to do is ask for a plumber too. These noises are so frustrating, and to resolve this, you need to hire top-notch water heater repair and maintenance services in Santa Ana. If your water heater still makes noise after this, you need to replace them as soon as possible.
3. Cloudy Water
In another situation, if you are experiencing the bad quality of water or cloudy water that gives a filthy smell, you need to be serious. You need to take care of your water heater from time to time by proper maintenance. You should filter the water and if you face some severe issues replace it.
4. Faulty Pressure
There are so many other things you will experience when you ignore water leakage. To recover from these, the only thing you can do is to prevent the explosion by hiring experts.
Conclusion
Are you going through the same issues? If yes, you would have definitely got the idea to recover from this. Water heater leakage is an alarming situation that needs a solution as fast as possible.
Water is the priciest part of our life, and to save this, we all have to take the necessary steps. No matter what’s the reason behind the leaky water heater pipe, you need to hire a technician from the top water heater repair service providers by investing an affordable amount.
