Hot water heaters are like every appliance in your home—they can break down from time to time. Luckily, if you take care of your water heater, it can last for up to 12 years without needing to be repaired very often. But if your hot water heater stops working, do you know what to do? Unless you’ve dealt with the problem before, you probably don’t know the next steps to get your hot water back on. We’re here to let you know that there are a few easy things you can check before calling us for water heater repair in Grand Rapids, MN:
- Wait: Your hot water heater doesn’t have the ability to instantly heat water when you need it. That’s why it takes a little while for the shower to get hot. However, your water heater is typically big enough to heat water throughout your home in a reasonable amount of time—that is, until you have more people than usual using the hot water, such as when you have guests over. If that’s the case, or if certain members of your household are using more water than usual, just wait a few minutes for the water heater to work its magic. If you’ve waited around for a long period of time and still don’t have hot water, you likely have some sort of issue that’ll need to be corrected.
- Check the pilot light: If you have a gas hot water heater, the most common reason for losing hot water is that your pilot light went out and needs to be relit. For those who don’t know, the pilot light is a small flame that ignites the gas burner that heats the tank. If it goes out, it’ll need to be relit before you can get hot water again. There should be instructions on the tank for relighting the pilot light, but if not, there are tons of resources online that’ll walk you through the steps to get it back up and running. If you relight the pilot light and your water still isn’t warming up, it’s time to call us for water heater repair in Grand Rapids, MN. We’ll be at your house as soon as possible to correct the issue!
- Check the circuit breaker: Electric units don’t need a pilot light to operate, but that doesn’t mean they can’t malfunction. Open up your circuit breaker panel and see if the switch for your hot water heater has tripped. If it has, simply flip the switch to the “off” position and then back to the “on” position. If that doesn’t seem to solve the problem, the issue may be more serious and require the assistance of a professional.
If you’ve gone through all these steps and you still don’t have hot water, give Rapids Plumbing & Heating Inc. a call for water heater repair in Grand Rapids, MN. Keep in mind that the best way to avoid the need for any repairs is by scheduling yearly maintenance with one of our professionals. Get in touch today to repair your hot water heater or schedule an annual service visit!