A water heater is a major purchase to make for a home, and nobody wants to replace their current water heater until they need to. The tricky part is understanding when that “need to” time arrives. We don’t recommend you continue to run and run an older water heater until it fails completely and breaks down. For one, that will leave you unexpectedly trapped without hot water and a longer period to wait until a new one is installed. For another, the dying water heater will waste tremendous amounts of energy as it declines and probably deliver less hot water than it used to.
It’s best to get in front of a water heater replacement by understanding when to have a new system installed rather than continue with water heater repair in Fresno, CA. We can provide you with some important info about when a water heater has gone beyond repair, but please don’t make a decision until you’ve worked with our team—we can help you find out when it’s time for a new water heater.
Assess your water heater’s age
Old cast-iron water heaters could last for 30 years, but these inefficient systems are long gone. The modern water heater lasts around 10 to 15 years. Making it to 20 years is rare, and we don’t recommend trying to keep a water heater working for that long, especially if other problems have started to emerge. Once your water heater reaches 12 years, start to pay attention to other signs that it may be on the decline.
Performance issues
Any household system that begins to need numerous repairs is signaling it’s getting closer to failing. With a water heater, the specific performance problem to keep a watch for that indicates the system is dying rather than in need of a single repair is when the hot water volume drops. If people in your household rush to the showers in the morning because the hot water gets depleted too fast, it may be time to get a new water heater.
Rust
You don’t want to see rust appearing anywhere on your water heater. Although water heaters are designed to resist rust and other types of corrosion for many years, time will eventually take its toll and lead to rusting. Rust on the tank almost certainly means the unit needs to be replaced. The same goes for if you see rusty discoloration coming from the hot water taps in the house.
High heating costs
The water heater is one of the biggest consumers of energy in your household, so when it starts to deteriorate with age, it will create a noticeable rise in monthly energy costs. Although repairs may be able to target a specific problem, if the water heater is already in the upper age range of its service life, repairs aren’t likely to keep the trouble fixed for long. It’s better to use that money to invest in a replacement.
Call Purl’s Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning for water heater service in the Central Valley. “Quality Is the Cornerstone of Our Success” since 1952.