How to Replace and Maintain Your Water Heater.

Mar 3

Isn’t it the most annoying when you want to take a hot shower and you walk into the shower with cold water?! That is the worst feeling ever! To avoid that terrible scenario, we are going to teach you everything about replacing and maintaining your water heater. Water heaters may be a more intimidating home plumbing project for people but learning about it will not hurt you. For those daredevils that want a challenge in the home plumbing department, stay tuned because there are some tips you might want to know. But first, do you know how long a water heater lasts? No? A water heater’s average life span is between 8 and 12 years, now you know. Everyone is going to have to change out their water heater themselves or through professionals, so knowing about it is beneficial. Before you start to tackle this project, make sure you have all of the measurements of your water heater before purchasing a new one. If not sure you can always take the measurements to a worker in a store and they can help out! Also, make sure to have all of the tools needed for this project before starting. APPROACH THIS SAFELY SINCE THE WATER CAN BE HOT HOT HOT!

How to replace the water heater

1) If it is gas, make sure to turn off all gas through the cut-off valve.
2) You are going to want to shut off all of the water supply and turn on every hot water faucet inside the house.
3) Drain the tank completely.
4) The pipes will be hard-plumbed, so you may have to unscrew or cut some lines.
5) Once disconnected, remove the water heater. Keep in mind that these are pretty heavy so do not attempt it yourself.
6) Once you get the new one, place the water heater in place and connect all pipes.
7) Turn on the water supply once you check all the hot water faucets are still open. Let the water flow for about a minute and shut it off.
8) Attach all wires together and turn on the power and there is your hot water in a couple of minutes.

Now that you have gotten yourself a new water heater, it is important to know how to maintain it. You want to keep the water heater for the long run so small checks here and there will be useful.

Some maintenance tips:

1) You want to do a temperature test with a bucket and thermostat every now and then but WARNING it is scalding hot so be careful!!!
2) You want to twist your shut-off valve so it does not seize.
3) For gas water heaters, make sure the gas valve is set to “pilot”.
4) Check burner operation.

It is important to maintain your water heater, just so you know it is running well. Also, you will be able to identify anything wrong if you usually do your check-ups! Now you are an expert at replacing and maintaining your water heater, go show it off to everyone. But no matter how confident you feel doing this, you might not want to tackle this home plumbing task. Water heaters are big products, cost lots of money, and require more than one person to replace it. This home plumbing project can be tricky and intimidating for some people. It is understandable because you would not want to mess up and just stress over how to fix it. Just keep it simple, hire professionals that will do the job for you. Don’t know who to call? Do not worry, we got you covered, call No Worries Rooter. Have them do the hard work for you and you simply do the job of enjoying a hot shower once again.