Water heater leaking

Maintenance and repair of the water heater has to be done by qualified service technician, but having some necessary skills and knowledge you can try to correct the trouble by your own.

So, your boiler does not heat the water and temperature light does not burn. The problem may be not in your machine. First of all, you should visually assess the condition of the unit after turning power off. Are there any traces of water, traces of the short circuit on the thermostat or tan? Is there smell of burning? If everything is clean, check the supply circuit. Check the presence of voltage on wire connections with the tester, indicator or trial lamp. Maybe circuit breakers were activated and the smell of burning spreads out of them. Turn automatic breakers on - if they work again, then the matter is serious – boiler is defective or circuit breakers in the switchboard are. If it is all right in the switchboard, probably protection relay boiler has triggered. Then turn protection key. If the automatic switch was triggered once more, then you have a defect in relay or heater, or both. If your boiler has worked for 4-5 years, replace both thermostats and heater to avoid damage.

Consider another case. Water heater leaks, but it works. Very often the water leaks from the drain hole of the check valve. That’s normal, because valve pits excess pressure in the boiler. Attach the drain pipe to the drain hole of the valve and bring it to the sewer so as to provide discharge of water into drains and don’t let the end of the tube to lower into the water.

If the boiler leaks, but the water is not leaking from the check valve, remove the cap of the boiler and locate the leak. Sometimes there is a corrosion of the flange. If you manage to find a new flange, change it and fix leaks. If water is not leaking out of the flange, but from under the insulation or it’s running on the housing of boiler, therefore, there was a loss of containment in the inner tank. It’s not possible to eliminate such a defect. The water heater should be replaced.

The most common problems when using the heater are

1. The water temperature drops rapidly while heater using.
Reason: The volume of this water heater is too small for such an active water consumption.

You can replace your tan with more powerful one or deliver additional. You may also become more economical in using hot water. But it is better initially to set water heater with maximum volume as its dimensions позволяют. The more is the better.

2. Water in the water heater does not heat. Not lit indicator light (if any).
Reason: Lack of voltage.

3. There is voltage, but the water is still not hot.
Reason: Faulty of electric heater or automatics, including tan; thermostat breaker was triggered; unstable electrical connection between tan and the thermostat due to oxidation of compounds.

In the first case, you have to disconnect the thermostat and the tan from the heater. Use tester or test lamp to check if the voltage goes through the thermostat to the terminals, which carries the heating element. Test the temperature controller by rotation of the disc up to typical click. In this case, the control light is switched on or off.

Second. Thermostats are generally equipped with thermal protector element (switch) made in the form of small button. Reset the thermostat by pressing the safety button.

Third. Remove the thermostat, clear, and bend contacts of tan and thermostat. Assemble the device and check if it is working. If you don’t have testers, megger, etc. replace tan and controls with new ones.