hahaha I'm glad I stayed til the end for the dad jokes. Resisting a rest!!! Another excellent video! I've learned so much from you I can't express enough how well you explain this for easy understanding!
Right now there is steam in my basement, not clear where it's coming from, small unfinished mechanical space. The wood is moist, and it's been getting very cold -27C | -16.6F and right now we are having trouble heating the house. Sometimes the pipe to the kitchen freezes, I hope that there isn't a pin hole leak. I am wondering if it's somehow coming from the hot water heater in the intense cold.
Did you figure it out? We got a new furnace and the humidifier they installed on it had been raising the humidity way too much, with condensation on lots of surfaces and the basement mechanical room being warm and very damp. Very cold water/gas lines coming in to the basement can produce a lot of moisture but it sounds like a furnace problem, maybe was a blocked intake and/or exhaust.
I wish you guys would do a estimate along with the repairs on a water heater cuz it's hard as a single mom to go find someone to come in and fix something and not really know pricing and we don't want to feel like we're being taken advantage of
Had to replace my burner assembly it had the inline resistor on the thermocouple bought a new burner assembly my old one has a tube on the inside of the propane supply to burner my new purchase has a line on the inside of the tube but its a inch shorter and crimped everything else matches thats the only difference between the original burner assembly and my new purchase any concerns thank you
A kind of video textbook on troubleshooting water heater problems. Very thorough and very well explained. Also, your video production was just about the best you have done so far. Seeing you appear as the star of the show up against those shiny pipes along with the flashing definitions and links that flowed right by was a pleasure to watch.
Thank you Johannes!! For watching and commenting as always! Your breakdowns of my videos are always welcome! Regardless, positive or negative. (although the negative ones are always phrased in a very instructive/constructive criticism type of way and I appreciate that)
In your service area, if I were to replace a 50 gallon gas HW Heater (A.O. Smith) which retails at Lowes for $800 what would be an estimate for the job? The HW Heater is in the corner of the garage on a 2' support and easily accessible.
If the delicate gas pilot tube sheared off while the thermocouple was being changed is there anyway to fix that? I am getting a new assembly, as the new thermocouple is too difficult to push back into the bracket, which is no longer parallel completely. Just wondering if there is a fix for the soft white aluminum looking tube once broken.
Your Video was very informative. However, in regards to Water Pressure Regulators, replacement is at the home owner's expense. Anything on the house side of the Water Meter is the home owner's responsibility to fix and not the city's. The Water Meter and anything between the street and Water Meter is the city's responsibility to repair. As a home owner, I've been there and done that twice.
Extremely informative and well explained video also you are easy to understand and well spoken. Kidnapping joke gets 5 out of 5 ⭐️ Thank you have a nice day
I'm glad I found this channel. This guy is humble, talks from experience and seems to just want to share what he knows.. and.. sir, if we ever meet in the real world, I owe you a coffee ☕️ or a meal.. Thanks!
When the pressure relief valve AKA T&P starts to leak, that can be a symptom of some other plumbing fixes being needed. It could be that the water supply has too high of a water pressure (possibly a defective water pressure reducing valve also referred to as PRV or no PRV when the water supply needs one), or the expansion tank has failed (or there is no expansion tank but there should be). Changing the T&P is only part of the solution when one of those other plumbing issues exists.
Warm water in the toilet was my most memorable complaint during my many years of servicing rental electric water heaters. There was, of course, nothing wrong with the water heater, and mixing at a single stem faucet was not the problem. A portable washing machine with a single water supply hose was the culprit. Attaching the supply hose to the laundry tub faucet and leaving both taps open virtually joins the hot and cold together......hot water from the cold tap, cold from the hot, warm in the toilet....etc..... Easy problem to fix (close the taps)but determining what’s going on is the problem. I only saw this scenario 3 times over the years but it’s something you will probably come across eventually.
I have replaced both electric water heater element and changed both thermostat . Water heater is not working . There is power however on the top screws of the upper element ? Could anyone please tell me what to do ?
Water was not hot at all around 2pm today. See youtube on how to sand the ignition cables then gave up once I see the inside the box was different with one in video. The system is Rheem 875 Electronic Continuous Flow Gas Water Heater - the stove is gas and was working. All I did then turn off the heater two or three times during the checking. Was about to wait till Monday to call up service, but then 6 hours later hot water works again. What is the reason for this phenomenon?
It feels very rewarding once you figure out what is causing your water heater not to light and that moment when it erupts in a line of controlled beautiful flames dancing for you in greatness is magical. Haha Oh thanks for the video Jay! 🙏👍
What tankless water heater should I buy? 1 bathroom, kitchen and washing machine uses hot water in my house. I have natural gas and dont want to run out of hot water. What size and brand would you buy?
Your video did not answer my problem. The hot water heater is leaking and making a running sound. It's leaking from the top as if condensation. The heater is not producing hot water anymore. I need further help.
Hello, I purchased the AO Smith water heater on Feb 2nd, 2020. It shut down after two weeks. AO sent technical the check. He thought the venting's installation is incorrect. I paid $900 for him to install correctly. Every 5 days, it shut down automatically. AO changed the control valve, burner, and baffle. Still shut down every five days. Finally, AO thought it is an environmental problem at my house. The suggested opening the door all the time to let the unit get more oxygen. We followed all the instructions AO suggested but not working at all. In these two months, I called AO tons of times, each of the representatives gave me different responses, such as open a vent at the bottom of the shed door (our water heater is in the shed), leave the door open all the time. I asked the HVAC company (AO suggested) to check. HVAC thinks the venting looks perfect but AO keeps saying the problem is from the environment but their product!! We are very frustrated with this issue. Especially "shelter in place "period, any suggestions? Thanks a lot.
They need better customer service reps ,a direct flame sensor could very well be the problem these are on newer models dust alone in your venting CAN EAISILY cause this problem I know I've been working on these for 50 years these customer service people Don't know crap these days ,clean your vent THEN THE CONTROL VALVE SENSOR & YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE ANY MORE PROBLEMS SOME TECHS. THAT COME TO YOUR HOUSE AREN'T VERY INFAORMED ALSO AO SMITH IS A GREAT PROBLEM BET YOU DO NEED TO KEEP THE SURROUNING AREA AS "DUST" FREE AS POSSIBLE, VACCUMING , AIR COMPRESOR ECT. HOPE THIS HELPS
Hello, My issue wasn't on your list. I hope you can help me. I have an electric water heater. All of a sudden my water got scalding hot. If we used the water at that temp eventually it would over heat and trip the shut off switch, then get cold (because it shut down.) I tested the thermostats and the elements 3+ times and everything came back fine. The temperature it was set at prior was never touched at all and set at normal temperature. I have no idea what the issue is. If anyone has had this issue with and Electric water heater please share. Thank you very much!
Number 45. Garden valve on washer acting as mixing valve. Fought this for over a year. Bought a washer, brand new and it had a bad mixing valve. So I put a garden Y on it. The garden Y was wide open on hot and cold, cold being dominant. So my water was luke warm when the washer wasn't in use. Now on to fixxing the washer mixing valve.
I used to use a socket, buy the tool to remove elements from a water heater its alot easier.If u bought the socket individually it cost more then the tool.The only reason why I would use that size socket is to remove an element and I would never use it again except if I was removing another element. The element removal tool is cheaper.
My heater is in the attic and it dosent fill up water keep running there are two valves which one do I change the water runs out the pipe to outside of house. One is the overflow pipe what is the other one.
Please help, we have not had hot water in one month. The water heater is in the attic. My husband replaced the thermocouple, and the burner assembly. He cleaned the air register. The pilot light will stay on forever when the burner is not on. When you turn the burner on and off the pilot stays lit. But when you leave the burner on both the pilot and the burner goes off after about 15 minutes.
Thank you sir! Your videos are extremely helpful! I do still have one question: my flame is mostly blue, but it does have some orange highlights. Just how much orange is acceptable, and at what point should I be concerned. And, how do I fix the burner to get a solid blue flame? Thanks again! You’re super helpful!
Hi man, what qualifications do you need to be a certified gas Appliance service person and where can you train to do this in the US, Maryland especially. Would really appreciate your input. Thanks Trevor. And keep up the videos, they're awesome 👍
The best way to do this is to get on the job training. There are very few appliance repair schools left. When I was hired by a gas company, I only knew how to repair HVAC units but they taught me how to repair all the other household appliances and deal with gas piping, gas meters, carbon monoxide emergencies, line locating, and other gas company related tasks.
As I post this comment, we're on our 3rd Water Heater, our previous Water Heater had the number 1 spot on this video, the Manufacturer date was from 2007 and it just started to leak a bit after Christmas 2020.
I almost lost my mind trying to figure out why the burner in my Rheem heater would not stay on. I called Rheem for support, but all they could do was send me a new control unit, which didn't help at all. I finally called a friend who, after pulling the burner assembly out, spotted the dirty flame sensor. He cleaned it *gently* with some emery cloth, and sure enough, that did the trick. I called Rheem back to report what I learned and they were kind enough to send me a new sensor assembly, which now sits with the other parts I've accumulated. With water heaters, it's just a matter of time before something fails, so forewarned is forearmed.
You're not wrong about random problems however a huge caveat is that they're often the result of an underlying problem. Gas appliances and especially Water Heaters are very sensitive to installation and unrestricted combustion intake and venting, especially in confined spaces with other equipment that can affect the room's pressure. Soot and buildup from the burner indicates too little oxygen, easily caused by dirty intake, dirty and/or closed vent flue or negative pressure from the furnace or even clothes dryer in a small area. My research and experience is that, if the install is correct and gas appliances are kept clean with no venting issues, even the 'cheap' modern units can last an extremely long time with very little combustion fouling. Our 'new' house badly needs all the vents/ducts cleaned and direct-vent gas appliances are the absolute worst to diagnose when they're so finicky. Our 15 month old Rheem Performance 40 Gallon Gas Heater from HD has some minor visible melting from when I presume the chimney got stuck shut in heavy snow/ice and, while it gets fully up to temp, hot water is running out way faster this winter which is confusing and frustrating to try to troubleshoot. I think I'm firmly in favor of Electric Water Heaters for simplicity/durability even if that means a slightly higher utility bill.
Great vid as usual. I have an AOSmith and it has a thermistor sensor I believe it I called. It threads into the burner assembly. It will set a code that says replace burner assembly. If I shut the main gas to the unit and let it cool down, it will relight and work. Have u had problems with them. Can’t buy just that part. I put an oscilloscope on it and when working properly, it sends out a 1.8 volt pulse every second or so. I have two of those heaters on my property, and the one that has not given me problems sends out that pulse also. Any clues as to how that things works and what is it sensing? Thank u Jay. I hope Hawaii is treating u well. Say hi to the super camera girl👍👍
What would make a Rheem water heater leak inside? It is 6 years old and rusted up the back seam at least 2 feet. It is in a mobile home where the heater is inside my closet in its own closet. It was installed either by manufacturer or the trailer sales. I bought the mobile home new in 14. This seems ridiculous for the price of water heaters. No one would be able to tell where this was leaking from until it ruined the heater. It was behind it.
another weird problem: my WH started tripping error code "3 flashes" tried restarting a couple of times before remaining off for over an hour then attempting another restart. determined it was the TCO (thermal cut out) detecting over limit temperature on the power vent housing exhaust. looked in the burner observation window and saw blue flames with orange tips (lack of oxygen). remembered that i had installed storm doors on every exterior door, house became much more air tight therefore restricting flow on the power vent blower, confirmed problem by just opening a window and no more overheat codes or orange tips. SO, i just throttle the gas to the burner by the gas supply valve to the WH till only blue flames showed (doors and windows closed) .
most likely scale and sediment buildup at the bottom of your tank if I've learned anything from all these videos. I do know however if you are in an apartment, you should call them and tell them so they will get someone out to you to do it under their cost. One of the benefits of renting!
Don't report the kidnapping to the authorities but you can report the kid napping to mom for points and and quality alone time. Nice informative video. Your channel saved me beaucoup bucks on my DIY AC repair this past week. Not having any hot water issues but I'm going to check out your video on Replacing the Anode Rod.
@Joseph Fields Lol the lame dad joke was deciphered correctly :) Thank you for watching and commenting! Good to hear that my videos helped you fix your AC! Stay cool!
Another awesome video instructions, thank you for sharing with us. I recently tried to replace my anode in my gas water heater, and of course it would not break loose. I tried a ratchet, I used an air gun, nothing worked, I then tried an extension on my ratchet and guess what? The heater turned a little and broke off cpvc piping on the intake, It had a weird assembly at the water intake that any fitting would not go on to, so I took a heat gun and enlarged the sleeve and slipped it on and glued the remaining pipe to it. It leaked, so I used epoxy glue and that held for about two days and started leaking, so I had to call a plumber, he put a nipple into the tank and put a new shut off valve and a new pressure tank $223.75. I still needed to change my anode so online I found a trick to hold the water heater in place so it wouldn't turn. I put a ratchet strap around the heater and wedged a board against the wall, and using an long extension pipe, I broke the anode loose and replaced it. If I had seen that video sooner I would be $223.75 richer lol. Hope this helps someone out, when trying to do that alone.
Thank you for watching and sharing your anode rod experience Robert! Sorry to hear it turned into a small mess for you though. Those anode rods can be extremely hard to break loose, as you have discovered for yourself. :) And thank you for including your solution, I am sure someone will thank you down the road! You're a good man
LOL 😂 I have changed the heating elements in electric water heaters twice. The only tough part I’ve had is screwing in the new ones. The coil end is heavy so it dips down misaligning the threads. Very hard to get enough leverage to get it straight...
Ah yes! That part can be a little annoying. I've replaced elements without draining the water heater a few times.. That kind of helped with the alignment. Although if the element is bent and I can't take it out of the hole.. I get a little shower by the time I break that thing off. (of course I only do this if I am in a basement with concrete floors and a floor drain nearby) Thanks for watching and commenting Mr. Classic! :)
What if the electric water heater thermostat keeps turning off (Top thermostat)? I replaced the upper and lower thermostat and the heating elements are fine. But the water heater thermostat still keeps shutting off. I looked carefully all around and didn't see any internal leaking. Any advice?
I remember my first year technical schooling for plumbing when they showed us what a hot water tank can do to a house. It's literally a bomb that will level your house. Then I see videos of people putting a plug in the pressure relief valve to stop the leak 😲
I would disconnect the hot wires coming into the water heater and then reset the breaker and turn power back on. Perhaps the problem is not in the water heater but either in the wires/conduit going to it or perhaps even the breaker itself is bad.
Hello Jay, all great info! I really enjoy an relate to your video's! Have you thought of touring country as trainer to city an state government agencies. We had them way back, definite need for good man like yourself! Here in Phoenix, Az. Years ago we had homeowner remove temp-pressure relief valve from gas water heater, he installed metal plug. The tank blew up through his roof and landed a home away from him. They closed down school and area was evacuated. Long story but I know you appreciate them. I have over 40 years of stories dealing with industrial-commercial an residential issues throughout my career. Some people should know better but they have no clue. Jay, your work ethics are outstanding! Keep educating others an provide great life for yourself and others!
Yes, they can be tested with a multimeter or voltmeter in the low milivolt range. The sensor reading changes with temperature and you can find a rough number for your particular thermocouple. Also, if your thermostat has a fault light that can help rule out certain failures. Often the root problem is dirty intake/exhaust for the gas heaters which cause other failures so it's worth disassembling everything for a thorough cleaning which also will make certain problems obvious.
@@WordofAdviceTV Jay, when I turn on my hot water it starts off hot for less than 30 seconds, then it goes to luke warm for the rest of the time. I turned up the thermostat on the water heater to "very hot" just to test, and it does the same thing. It gets very hot for less than 30 seconds then goes luke warm for the rest of the time until it eventually gets cold. It's a gas water heater. Does that sound like a mixing valve problem? It's a small apartment with one bathroom that has a mixing valve in the shower.
My 13 year old electric hot water heater doesn't make enough hot water. I changed both elements and both thermostats and still have the same problem. So a broken dip tube or shorted wire would be the last thing that is wrong with it then, right?.?
Did you figure it out? Similar situation with a 14 mo old Gas Rheem and it seems like the hot water running out sooner can only be caused by a broken dip tube and/or some sort of mixing valve or hot/cold circuit being connected together. Had been fine up to this winter.
@@Demoralized88 I spent like $100. I found out more about water heaters but never figured the one thing that was broken. I had a 13 year old water heater. I should of just buy a new one and saved the $100.
Hey Jay, i bought a home with a water heater that is now 19 yrs old and still working good, with no issues. Its a GE 40 gal. water heater (PG40S9CB0O). Is there anything i could do to help prolong its life to say 25yrs or should i change it now while i still have no issues? I was toying with the idea of changing the anode rod but it seems like that might be more trouble than what its worth at this point. Whats your opinion?
If it is 19 years old, then changing the anode rod may do you more harm than good. If it were me, I would just leave the water heater alone :) The only time a water heater needs to be replaced is when the inner tank starts to leak. And I don't know if this will ease your worries at all but the oldest water heater I've seen was over 40 years old and the homeowner said they've never replaced the anode rod, flushed the tank, or tested the pressure relief valve...
Hi. Thanks for a great video on hot water tank repairs. Do you have any experience with power vent motor on top of the hot tank that does not start up sometimes? I unplug the vent motor from the outlet and then plug it back in, then vent motor powers up, then the burner turns on and hot water for awhile. This is good for a couple of days or week, then problem repeats. It seem like a switch is stuck in the vent motor? Any thoughts?
I am grateful for videos like this. I had a guy come to fix my hot water heater and he said basically I need a new one. My hot water heater is 10 years old...
At 10:40 he says he had to replace the whole assembly but I did a fuse type thermal couple it went and we just replaced it with a universal type and simply excluded the fuse and it seemed to work fine an was cheaper for the customer
I have a Bradford water heater and I read that I may need to replace the anode rod and dip tube. the issue is both are under the hot or cold main water supply pipes. It does not look too easy to do since it you have to use an ez out to loosen the anode rod.
You are such an amazing young man !!! thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! also love the two jokes had me cracking up here 🤣my one question is why do we have low hot water pressure throughout the whole house ? cold water pressure is just perfect.
Cleaning out the pilot tube can solve many issues dealing with the thermocouple/thermopile. If the pilot doesn't stay lit, the pilot flame may not be producing enough millivolts to hold the pilot valve open. That can be due to a luminous flame caused by a dirty pilot tube. The flame needs to be bunsen or nice and blue. That will produce sufficient mV to hold the pilot open. This can be achieved by blowing the pilot tube out.
Hi Jay, Thank you so much for the video! I just moved into an apartment that has a Bradford White Defender Safety System hot water heater. Every time I use hot water, which triggers the heater to click on, a small amount of gas came out and I can smell it within a few seconds. Is this normal? I would run the kitchen exhaust fan and open the windows to air the gas out. After that, if the heater is off, I do not small gas. I can of course submit a request to have someone come in to check, but want to get an opinion and understand the problem first. I would appreciate very much any advice you can offer!
This video is amazing!! Thank you. My hot water has been a problem since I moved into my house 3 years ago. I've just been dealing with it and recently have a new problem, have to reset the power to the heater once a week or so. My original problem must be @16:50 (bad mixing valve on shower) my new problem still haven't figured out... need to finish watching this.
Today we bought a geyser and now body was knowing how to run it so i watched your video and MashAllah you have explained very perfectly,love you bro.keep up,let me subscribe your channele.
Do you have a specific Brand of water heater that you recommend? I know you mentioned that you don’t have a lot of service calls on SpeedQueen washer and dryers. Is there something similar for water heaters? I need an electric 40 gal tank. I’d love a heat pump water heater but I don’t have sufficient sq footage.
Question? the flame sensor is that the thermocouple? or thermopile? or is this direct vent type? Thanks! Also my service calls are often the Honeywell Valves are bad, or thermocouple!! Great Video !!
It would have been better if you did two separate videos. One for Electric and one for Gas so we don't have to waste our time listening about the one we don't have.
