Below is basic help information about safety for tank type water heaters.
Safety Concerns:
If you smell gas, do not try to light the water heater. Do not turn on or turn off any electrical switch. Immediately contact your gas supplier, but if ur gas supplier doesn’t answer your call, call your local fire department.
Never store gasoline, or flammable liquids or anything that can have flammable vapors near a gas water heater.
Tank Type Water Heater Safety Awareness:
We tend to forget about the good old water heater until their is a problem with your hot water. They are almost always hidden away in a location away from plain sight. They provide tens- of thousands of gallons of hot water over the life of the tank, and most people forget that they need maintenance.
By design, tank type units draw in large amounts of combustion air from the underside of the tank. Also lint and dust become collected in the area around the base of the tank and inside the burner compartment which is flammable material.
Part of a simi annual cleaning activity for the water heaters should be vacuuming all the junk off the tank, and around the base of the tank, if not dust and lint can restrict the burner ports and thermal coupling.
COMBUSTION AIR:
Some hack plumber, slum lords, yourselfers etc don’t know what the exhaust pipe sizing needs to be when installing a new water heater. Normally one gas water heater needs a 3 inch smoke pipe, 2 water heaters linked together need a 4 inch diameter pipe. 3 gas water heaters 5 inch. For 3 family houses with more than one water heater, and boilers venting into the same vent pipe you need to know the formula. Here it is. The intake air is a minimum of 1 square inch of intake air per 1,000 Btu’s of appliance rating. Which means there must be 1 square inch of combustion air for each 1,000 Btu’s. Easiest way to know is to start with a 3 inch exhaust pipe for one gas burning water heater, and go one size large (one inch larger) for every additional gas burning appliance you add down the line.
The supplied air must be supplied from the area surrounding the water heaters. If your water heater is located in a small room without a sufficient amount of combustible (fresh) air it may not run properly, and/or may lead to more gas usage. (A plumbing professional can solve this problem by installing a air intake fan.)
VENT TESTING:
A venting system not functioning correctly can be highly dangerous. Fumes can & will contain carbon monoxide. The amounts vary. None is acceptable in the living environment once the vent pipe heats up.
If there is suspicions of fumes entering the living area as a result of a blocked and or restricted venting system, it is highly suggested to have a professional test the system. Most gas companies, natural or propane, do this simple test to ensure public safety. As well as plumbers & installers of water heaters and room/house heating guys, etc.
In order for the water heater’s venting system to work correctly drafting needs to take place, the venting system will have hot gases attempting to escape up the vent pipe. The chimney does not allow much outside air to enter down the vent pipe. If the roof top vent cap on the outside rooftop vent pipe is installed correctly and their are no obstructions by this I mean no dead birds and critters, or bricks pushed down in the chimney or vent piping it should be working correctly. If their is a problem with hot fumes and gases not being able to escape up and out of the house, the harmful gases will get into the house, and/or the water heater could turn it’s self off.
The test to verify if inside air is being drawn up & out, is to test the space between the water heaters flue and the down draft cap. Right in the space from the top of the water heater, and the vent piping strike a stick match. Once a flame is established on the match, put the flame close to that open space on top of the water heater next to the gas cap, if the flame is drawn into the vent you have a good venting system. Allow the flames to from the match to be drawn to wards the flow of air without being so close the air snuffs the match. The match flames should tilt in wards toward the cap if working properly.
If the reverse happens in the test, and the flames is blown out from air vent pipe the match may be too close. If the match is held in the close to area but not inside the area space and you can see the flame being pushed away from the vent opening the venting system is defective.
The defect may be caused by several conditions. Most commonly is an incorrectly installed vent cap on the outside vent pipe, or it may be a clogged, bent, damaged, or has a dead squirrel in it. Long story short and somehow the venting is restricted. In rare but possible instances death can occur from sleeping inhabitants of the house due to carbon monoxide not going threw the venting and out of the house, but instead entering the house, and seeping up threw the floors. Carbon carbon Monoxide is tasteless, and orderless, and can kill. DO Not take unnecessary risks with installing or moving vent piping unless you know what your doing.
Gas Control Problem:
If their are problems with your gas control valve, turn off your water heater’s gas valve and call a plumber.
TEMPERATURE – PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE LEAKS:
If the water is coming out of the pressure-temperature valve, chances are that valve has rust and or sediment under the seat of the valves shut off.
You should not lift the lever to allow water to come out. Doing so will cause the water to come out even faster and most likely will not stop.
The relief valve could be defective. Replacing it could solve the problem. However after the relief valve is replaced and it still drips it means their is a bigger problem in the tank. Maybe theirs to much inlet water pressure and or the thermostats water temperature is set too high or there is sediment under the seat of the valve or in the tank.
Thermostat Test:
A quick test of the thermostat may be to remove the temp knob. Rotate the key point the knob is attached to. Use your fingers. Turn it clockwise to it’s max amount. The burner should fire up. If not, the thermostat may have already heated the water to it’s maximum or recently turned off.
If the pilot light is not on or goes out repeatedly or occasionally, the information below about relighting the water heater will hopefully solve this problem.
NO PILOT GAS PROBLEMS:
The most common reason why pilot gas will not come out of the pilot orifice in the burner assembly has rust and corrosion.
Gas appliances left unused in vacation homes etc will buildup rust and corrosion in the pilot assembly. To correct this type of problem, first remove the pilot tube from the control.
The tube is the thin aluminum tube on the right hand side under the control. Once it is removed, turn the control to the pilot position and depress the red reset button for only 1 or 2 seconds.
Doing this is to insure that pilot gas is in fact coming out of the control and is turned on at the inlet supply pipe. If gas does come out, the pilot assembly is clogged up. If gas does not come out, the gas is off at the isolation valve on the gas supply pipe or the control is defective, etc.
The entire burner assembly will then have to be removed, the pilot assembly disassembled and cleaned out, reassembled and the entire burner assembly reinstalled back into the firebox.
Be sure to reinstall the burner assembly exactly as it current is. Burner assembly must be level and the leading edge at the front of the burner installed into the flange in the lower pan in the firebox.
Once all this is accomplished, soap test for minor gas leaks all the connection points you disassembled. The pilot must be on to leak test the pilot tubing connection and the burner must be on to test the burner tube.
If any of the repairs, methods, procedures is or appears to be more difficult than you care to attempt, some gas supply companies provide these services. Basic maintenance procedures are given in the manufacturers provided owners manual and on the labels attached to the appliance.
REPLACING A THERMOCOUPLE:
Usually the pilot will go out if a thermocouple is defective. Usually but not always. Replacing the thermocouple may correct the problem of pilot outages.
SIZZLING SOUNDS:
That sizzling sound may be an early indication of a pin hole leak in the tank.
Depending upon the age of the tank, more than 10 years, likely there is an internal water leak in the tank. If the tank is less than 10 years old and you have the warranty to prove such, contact the mfg or a plumber.
If no warranty is available or the tank is out of warranty, etc, and rust, scale is evident, time for tank replacement.
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PILOT LIGHTING INSTRUCTIONS: The instructions should be right on your water heater above the gas control.
The correct procedure is to always use EXTREME caution at all times. For personal safety, turn the selector knob to the “OFF” position and wait 5 minutes.
The pilot assembly will be at the end of the aluminum pilot tube exiting the gas control valve. The correct place to light the pilot, will be at the very top of the assembly up inside the firebox.
After the pilot lights, continue to hold that reset button down for about 45 to 60 seconds or so, then release it. The pilot flame should remain “ON.” If the pilot flame remains on, stand back at arms length. Rotate the selector knob to the “ON” position.
The control knob on the top of the thermostat control will have a “Pilot” position. Turning that round control knob to this position will allow you to lite the pilot while depressing the “Red” button.
The “Red” reset button must be held down in the depressed position for at least 60 seconds before releasing it. If the pilot remains ON, turn the control knob to the “ON” position and the main burner should fire up.
If the main burner does not light up, raise the thermostats temperature to maximum to allow the burner to light up and then lower it to your desired temperature.
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Great write up. I find the most common problem is not changing out their anode rod. Without the rod, the water eats away at the tank at a much faster pace. Loved the write up!
Good information! Thank you. I have a Rheem Ruud Hot Water Heater that was installed in 1995. Unfortunately, I have never drained it. I am not sure if the tip stick is easily accessible or the anode rod. I do not get sufficient hot water and haven’t for a number of years now. Would simply draining the tank help at this late stage? Would it help to replace the tip stick or rod, or has the life expectancy of the tank expired and I should replace it all together? Help…..
No. That heater is a bit to far gone in my opinion. If it were less than ten years old I’d say draining the heater, and replacing the Anode Rod and Dip Tube is a good idea and would have kept the heater operating correctly for a many more years.
Dip tubes can disintegrate over time, and replacing it would correct the problem of running out of hot water so fast, but all together the amount of work, and money on parts and the labor for a plumber to do the work would be about 400-450 dollars, and imo your better off spending the extra 3-4 hundred dollars to replace the heater altogether and free yourself from a problematic water heater for another 10+ years. Rather than put good money in a very old tank.
With water heaters 15+ years old, the Dip Tube, and Anode Rod will be nearly imposable to remove. Also to replace the Dip Tube on a water heater the water heater must be cut out and completed moved away from it’s installation site in order to remove the water supply line, and dip tube under it within the “cold side” of the tank.
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