Sediment and mineral buildup can cause blockages within water heaters and cause them to stop working or not heat up enough. It is normal for some minerals and sediment to accumulate in your water heater over time, but if left unchecked, it can cause serious damage. In order to prevent this, simply have your water heater serviced and flushed regularly to get rid of excess buildup.
When the lining of your hot water tank begins to corrode, the water heater will begin to fail. Luckily, water heaters have a built-in part that is designed to prevent this from happening: the anode rod. The anode rod is designed specifically to rust and corrode first, before the lining is affected. Because of this, you can simply replace your anode rod when it gets rusty in order to protect the lining of the tank. Check your anode rod regularly and when it starts to look quite rusty, replace it with a new one. Anode rods are designed to be affordable, easily-replaced parts that are sacrificed occasionally for the health of the water heater as a whole.
If you find that you are regularly running out of hot water when you need it, the issue could simply be that your water heater does not have a large enough capacity for your household. Households with several people where hot water usage is particularly high may need to have a larger hot water tank installed in order to accommodate the amount of showers, baths, laundry, and other hot water usage requirements.
If a water heater isn’t installed properly from the beginning, you are likely to experience problems. This is especially likely with DIY installations where a homeowner may think that they followed the steps and got it right but actually missed something important. If none of the above reasons apply to your water heater and it is still not working correctly, an improper installation may be the issue.
If your water heater is not working and you need it repaired or replaced, trust the pros at Butler Plumbing, Heating & Gasfitting!