Unlike electric water heaters, standard tank type water heaters use an insulated storage tank. The construction or anatomy of a gas tank type water heater is explained in the tutorial Anatomy of the Gas Water Heater.
Water heaters are generally very reliable but occasionally they do have problems.
- These problems can include:
- No hot water
- Inadequate hot water
- Rust colored water
- Rotten egg odor
- Low rumbling or popping noise
- Higher pitched whining
- Water leaking around base of heater
- Before any troubleshooting is done on the water heater, make sure to prepare safely for the job by doing the following:
- Turn off power to an electric water heater. Do this by turning off the circuit breaker or fuse powering the heater.
- Turn the gas pilot control valve to "pilot" setting.
- Shut off water supply to water heater.
