Water Heater Repair
Homeowners love to save time and hassle and will be ready to when it comes to working on a water heater. However, there are many circumstances and eventualities which need assistance from a plumbing pro. If you’re handy and happy with mechanics, then some eventualities concerning water heaters can be handled by you.
Before doing plumbing work you need to perform these safety steps:
Open a hot tap within the house at any sink. This relieves pressure on the lines.
Twist the knob on the drain valve to open it on the water heater. It’s found at the base of the water heater and appears like a hose bib.
Tell everybody in the house or building to use cold water only.
Whenever removing electrical elements on an electrical water heater, be sure that the electricity is turned off.
The glass cleaner will spit and foam barely if you’ve a gas leak.
At this point you want to be careful that the gas smoke don’t backdraft into the house. When the gas fumes from a gas water heater travel up and out the draft diverter on top of the gas water heater, they go to the outside of your place thru a vent. If you smell rotten eggs inside of your house, call a plumber or the gas company immediately.
If you are insulating your pipes for your water heater, do not cover dielectric unions, fittings, or copper flex lines. The insulation will cause the water to remain on the surface beneath and cause more damage from leaky pipes. Never put insulation on the tin draft diverter found above the gas water heate. The insulation can ignite.
If you know you’ve got a recirculating loop for you water heater, it’s a smart idea to have a ball valve before the point at which the loop connects to you water heater. If you’ve got any type of pump found on this line, have a plumbing professional install a ball valve before the pump also.
Again, if you aren’t certain of your capability to work on a water heater in any way, get a professional service technician to help you.
Q : Since we have been on higher water pressure from a new source, we get more noise in the pipes. Not banging or clunking, just more water moving through the system faster, sort of a “rushing” noise. The pipe into the house is plastic, then hooks into copper pipe. I am at the point now where I am about prepared to rip the strapping off and putting foam around the pipes before I strap them back up. Before I spend the money on this, I thought I would check with you to see if that’s what I must do, or can you suggest something else ? Thanks very much.
A: A reduction of 1.5:1 ( sometimes 3/4″ to 1/2″ is sometimes used to extend or maintain water pressure throughout a house. The idea is that, given constant supply pressure, proscribing volume will increase velocity. Released pressure at a fixture will be compensated for by this increased velocity.
What diameter is the plastic feed? If the reduction is greater than 1.5:1 it’s quite likely that the velocity is great enough to cause noise in the pipe.
Check that all the shut-off valves (below the sinks for example. ) are absolutely open. Also, check all the pipes to see if there are any crushed or dented sections.
By all means, wrap the pipes, but use denser rubber for vibration pads. Extra bracing (for clamping to) might also help.
Alternative: Before you start pulling out nails, check the water velocity at your fixtures, and if it is extremely high, a pressure reducing valve can be installed on the supply line.