At My Professional Plumber, when our team of professionally trained water heater repair technicians respond to your water heater maintenance or repair calls in Knoxville, TN, inspect the unit to see how old it is. A repair to a water heater also depends on what stage it is in its service life, and inspecting the unit helps them craft a strategy for its repair. For the tank-based water heaters, including hybrid versions and traditional models, the expected service life is about 10-15 years. However, tankless water heaters have a higher lifespan doubling that of conventional water heaters. They can last for about and over 20 years.
Different water heater repairs are performed to extend the unit’s functional life in that timeline. These include thermostat or heating element replacement and specific maintenance and preventative repairs to ensure the water heater doesn’t fail because of avoidable circumstances like weakening from corrosion or tank pressure. If preventative maintenance and repair aren’t conducted, the service life of your water heater will be significantly reduced. Our plumbers use this perspective when inspecting the water heater and evaluating its conditions for repair purposes.
With this view, our plumbers can provide you with information to ensure you can budget for its replacement before the time comes when the unit isn’t longer functional. Therefore, we make it easy to decide whether a replacement or repair is the best choice. Your water heater passes through the stages below in its lifetime, and each step has key requirements that ultimately establish the unit’s lifespan.
The Early Stage: Maintenance Is Critical and Sets Tone for the Future
In the early service years, routine maintenance of your water heater offers a food foundation to minimize corrosion and wear, especially with tank-based water heaters. After installation, you need to contact a water heater repair and maintenance technician and create a maintenance plan for this vital plumbing appliance. When the technician comes for the first maintenance visit, their goal is to establish that the water heater is efficiently running and is on track to serve you properly for over a decade or two for tankless units.
Checking the critical factors like the depletion of the anode rod, the operation of the temperature and pressure relief valve, burner or heater operations, and thermostat setting is vital even when you think nothing is wrong. Sometimes, you might find that the unit has taken a toll from hard water in its early service life, forming sediment deposits. The technician can flush the tank or adjust the unit’s anode rod composition.
They will select an anode rod suitable for the type of water at your commercial or residential property. The plumber can also recommend installing quality water treatment fixtures like a water softener to reduce water heater repairs down the line and protect the other appliances and plumbing. If your water heater has any gas or electric power supply issues, the technician will also resolve them. Remember, this is the stage that sets out how frequently you’ll have to repair the water heater and how long the unit will serve you.
Mid Stage: Occasional Adjustments or Repairs and Maintenance of the Unit
After the water heater has served you for some time, dust particles and other materials dissolved in the water might gather inside. Therefore, you might find yourself occasionally needing the services of our repair team to service the electrical heater or adjust the gas burner. In hybrid models, it is also critical to check and maintain the compressor coils and the refrigerant used by the heat pump and ensure that everything is in good shape.
High energy utility bills, unusual sounds from your water heater, leaks, and other signs which you might notice can help notice there is an issue. You can then call our water heater repair and maintenance team to come and restore the unit. The case is identical to tankless models that might need occasional sediment cleaning because they will eventually stop functioning when the sediments build up. Their vents should also be regularly cleaned.
If the control unit displays any error codes, it is vital to call a technician to tend to them. Through servicing your tankless water heater, you will be contributing to its longer service life, and our team will ensure that your water heater gets quality servicing. If any of the sensors are acting up, our team will pinpoint exactly where they are and replace them to ensure your tankless water heater is operating correctly. They will be able to sense flow and provide a continuous supply of hot water at your Knoxville, TN home.
Later Years: The Concerns About the Problems That Might Arise Including Leaks
At this stage, there are many water heater repairs and maintenance works. The repairs may even at times repeat over the unit’s long life. The repairs and adjustments include things like anode rod replacements and burner adjustments.
The tank’s anode rod protects it from corrosion by balancing the chemical properties in the water. After several years, it should be replaced because it gets depleted through sacrificial action. If the sacrificial anode rod is depleted, you might notice issues like an odor emanating from the hot water. It also prevents the growth and survival of anaerobic bacteria that may cause such odors.
You are also likely to notice your water becoming colored at this age. This isn’t a good sign. It might indicate corrosion inside the water heater tank or sediment buildup. In the case of sediments, you might hear a bubbling, banging, or a sizzling sound from the tank. The other common problem at this stage is a leaking protective valve.
Either way, our water heater repair and maintenance will inspect the water heater for the issue, conscious of the problems that may arise at this stage. They will then craft a comprehensive water heater repair plan or recommend replacing the unit.
Replace or Repair Decision Time
Maintenance is vital all through the service life of your water heater and more so in the later years, whether to service the anode rod, inspect the tank, or ensure that the unit is in good shape after having lasted for a long time.
A time comes when you are faced with a replace or repair decision. This is primarily where the repairs have become more frequent because they aren’t economical anymore. Our technician can provide insights, and in case you decide to replace the unit, they can recommend some quality models.
Reliable Water Heater Repair Experts
Our water heater repair technicians and professional plumbers at My Professional Plumber are on standby to offer help and ensure you get the most from your plumbing fixtures like the water heater in Knoxville, TN. Give us a call for any water heater service needs today.