Troubleshooting Water Heaters On Your Own

There is nothing worse than something going wrong with your water heater. Going without hot water for any length of time can be extremely difficult. There are many things that you can test before you call a company to come in and fix a problem that you could have easily fixed yourself. The internet has many great websites that offer free video tutorials to help aid you in successfully troubleshooting water heaters. You will have no problem finding the one that is specifically your model, with minimal searching.


The most common troubleshooting to begin with is an obvious one, but when you are angry and frustrated that it’s not working it’s also the first one over looked. Make sure that the power is going to the water heater. You can check this by using a volt meter, which is the best way. If you do not have one you can either run out to the store to pick one up or you can see if a neighbor has one that you can borrow. They aren’t very expensive at all. You would be surprised how often this is the problem, and the fix is simple enough. Just reset the breaker.


Another common problem is the thermostat on the water heater might need to be reset. In order to do this yourself you are going to need remove the access panels. You will need to shut the power off to the unit. This is important if you don’t want to be shocked. Once the panels are off you need to look for the red button, and if it is popped out you need to push it back in. This should solve the problem, but it doesn’t always.


You can find many other water heater troubleshooting websites that should help you through many of the other common issues. Do you best to try to remain calm; it’s very easy to get frustrated when you don’t know how to fix something that you really can’t do without. And you don’t want to have to call a professional to come in and repair it for you since they usually charge a lot of money for something as simple as resetting the thermostat.  


If you do not have the confidence to handle these things on your own then it would be best if you see if a neighbor could help you, or simply leave it to the professionals. It’s always better to be safe rather to be sorry.