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Flood line on heating equipment (C) Daniel FriedmanFlooded Water Heater Repair
Emergency-use/repair of water heater that was flooded

  • POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about cleaning & repairing flooded heating equipment: oil & gas or electric boilers, furnaces, water heaters

How to clean & restart flooded water heating equipment or restore a flooded water heater to service:

This article describes procedures for inspection and if absolutely necessary, emergency repair and temporary use of of flooded water heating equipment, water heaters, calorifiers, geysers, or water heating cylinders.

Area flooding due to storms or building flooding due to a fire or burst water pipe can leave heating appliances inoperative as well as unsafe to use unless adequate inspection, cleaning, and repair or replacement of certain parts are made.

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Flood Damaged Water Heaters: Checks & tests for restoring a flooded or storm damaged water heater to service

Water Heater Details Carson Dunlop AssociatesDifferent depths of flooding have different implications for inspection & repair of heating appliances after hurricanes, rising flood waters, burst pipe leaks, of sewer backups.

A water heater might be salvageable after area flooding if it was not submerged, or it might be necessary to make temporary emergency use of a water heater that was flooded.

Here we describe checks & tests for restoring a flooded or storm damaged water heater to service

Our page top photo shows a client pointing to the level reached by flood waters in a building basement - the heating boiler, water heater, and other basement appliances had been inundated with muddy water from area flooding.

Water heater sketch for an oil fired heater is provided courtesy of Carson Dunlop Associates, a Toronto home inspection education, report writing and inspection firm.

Watch out: before draining the water heater, check DRINKING WATER EMERGENCY SOURCES where we discuss using the water in a water heater, calorifier, geyser as an emergency drinking water source after a disaster such as flooding, hurricane, earthquake.

Later when we want to get a salvageable water heater working after flood, hurricane, earthquake or other disaster damage the steps needed depend on the type of heater that you have installed.

The water heater might be salvageable, though if the heater was completely flooded as was its heat source such as a gas or oil burner, it may be beyond economical repair.

In that case I would attempt to clean and restore such a heater only as an emergency measure when it is absolutely necessary to try.

Most likely in all cases of tank type water heaters you'll want to drain and possibly sanitize the tank along with building water supply piping as well as flush and test (or replace) the pressure / temperature relief valve and discharge tube.

For gas or oil fired heater burners and other controls, see additional fuel supply and oil or gas burner inspection and restoration procedures listed in HEATING EQUIPMENT, FLOOD DAMAGE REPAIR .

For other types of hot water equipment see WATER HEATERS - home or see these articles:

For additional water heater inspection & cleaning procedures also see

Here Carson Dunlop Associates' sketch shows the location of the sacrificial anode on an electric water heater. If your hot water smells like rotten eggs, you should definitely check the condition of the sacrificial anode on the hot water heater, no matter what kind of water tank you've got installed.

For details of how to inspect or replace the sacrificial anode or dip-tube on a water heater, please see WATER HEATER ANODES & DIP TUBES or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

This article series on oil hot water heat will answer most questions about oil-fired water heaters as well as many other building plumbing system inspection or defect topics.

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Continue reading at HEATING EQUIPMENT, FLOOD DAMAGE REPAIR or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

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FLOOD DAMAGED WATER HEATER REPAIR at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.


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INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to HEATING SYSTEMS

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