Guide to Hot Water Heater Selection, Inspection, Diagnosis, & Repair
InspectAPedia® -
Water heaters: how to inspect, test, adjust, repair, and choose among types of hot water heaters
Guide to inspecting gas fired hot water heaters
Guide to inspecting oil fired hot water heaters
Guide to inspection of electric water heaters
Guide to tankless coils, indirect fired water heaters, range boilers
No Hot water? how to get more hot water flow, quantity, performance from your water heater
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The articles at this website will answer most questions about domestic water heaters
as well as many other building plumbing system inspection or defect topics.
This page contains links to in-depth articles on inspecting, testing, and repairing problems residential hot water heaters of all types, including their parts, controls, and alternative sources for hot water as well as tips for improving hot water temperature, hot water pressure, and hot water quantity.
Inspection, Diagnostic, & Repair Guide to Residential Hot Water Heaters
While an electric, gas-fired, or oil-fired water heaters, along with tankless coils on heating boilers are among the most common methods for producing domestic or residential hot water for washing and bathing, there are plenty of other ways that people obtain hot water.
All hot water supply systems use some energy source (electricity, oil, gas, solar energy) to heat either a reservoir of hot water stored in a hot water tank, or to heat water as it is used (such as tankless coils and Thermar type heaters.)
An exception is geo-thermal hot water (such as is readily available in Iceland and in more localized areas in other countries). And the most common hot water complaint we hear is "how can I get more hot water quantity - I keep running out of hot water" or "how can I get better hot water pressure?"
Our photo shows clear evidence of flue gas spillage from a gas fired water heater. In articles linked from this page we discuss this and other water heater diagnosis and repair topics.
The articles listed below describe the inspection, operation, diagnosis, repair, and improvement of each type of water heater, and we include detailed advice about how to improve hot water supply in buildings as well as inspection and correction of leaks, high hot water costs, odors, noises, and safety problems.
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Additional technical contributors & reference sources for this article are listed below.
Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.
Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
Thanks to Scott C. LeMarr, for sharing his file of keys to decode Furnace and Water Heater Age from the data provided on the manufacturer's equipment labels. Mr. LeMarr is
a professional home inspector, Certified Professional Inspector/President,
MASTER Indoor Environmental Specialist (MIES).
Vice President of Wisconsin NACHI. He and his company, Honest Home Inspections, LLC. can be reached at
262-424-5587 or by email to scott@honesthomeinspections.com
Passive Solar Design Handbook Volume I, the Passive Solar Handbook Introduction to Passive Solar Concepts, in a version used by the U.S. Air Force - online version available at this link and from the USAF also at wbdg.org/ccb/AF/AFH/pshbk_v1.pdf
Passive Solar Design Handbook Volume II, the Passive Solar Handbook Comprehensive Planning Guide, in a version used by the U.S. Air Force - online version available at this link and from the USAF also at wbdg.org/ccb/AF/AFH/pshbk_v2.pdf [This is a large PDF file that can take a while to load]
Passive Solar Handbook Volume III, the Passive Solar Handbook Programming Guide, in a version used by the U.S. Air Force - online version available at this link and from the USAF also at wbdg.org/ccb/AF/AFH/pshbk_v3.pdf
"Passive Solar Home Design", U.S. Department of Energy, describes using a home's windows, walls, and floors to collect and store solar energy for winter heating and also rejecting solar heat in warm weather.
"Solar Water Heaters", U.S. Department of Energy article on solar domestic water heaters to generate domestic hot water in buildings, explains how solar water heaters work. Solar heat for swimming pools is also discussed.
"Heat-Transfer Fluids for Solar Water Heating Systems", U.S. DOE, describes the types of fluids selected to transfer heat between the solar collector and the hot water in storage tanks in a building. These include air, water, water with glycol antifreeze mixtures (needed when using solar hot water systems in freezing climates), hydrocarbon oils, and refrigerants or silicones for heat transfer.
"Solar Water Heating System Freeze Protection", U.S. DOE,using antifreeze mixture in solar water heaters (or other freeze-resistant heat transfer fluids), as well as piping to permit draining the solar collector and piping system.
"Solar Air Heating" U.S. DOE also referred to as "Ventilation Preheating" in which solar systems use air for absorbing and transferring solar energy or heat to a building
"Solar Liquid Heating" U.S. DOE, systems using liquid (typically water) in flat plate solar collectors to collect solar energy inthe form of heat for transfer into a building for space heating or hot water heating. The term "solar liquid" is used for accuracy, rather than "solar water" because the water may contain an antifreeze or other chemicals.
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