Water Heater Repair in Forest Park, GA
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What winter and power outages mean for your water heater in Forest Park
Winter nights here average 35°F from December through February, cold enough that your water heater has to work harder to bring incoming water up to temperature. A unit that was already on its way out tends to show it first on those cold nights, when it can't keep up the way it used to.
Clayton County has also seen its share of damaging wind, 38 events over the past ten years plus a handful of winter storms, and outages that go with them. Most gas water heaters with a standing pilot stay lit and keep working through a power outage. Electric units and gas models with electronic ignition need the power to come back before they'll heat water again. If your water heater stayed cold after the lights came back on, that's usually why.
- 35°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 5 months
- November through March, the months homes here need heat
- 31%
- of Georgia households lost power for a day or more in 2024, and a heater with an electric element or electric ignition stops without it
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- Why is my water heater leaking from the bottom?
- Most of the time this means the tank itself has failed. Water heater tanks corrode from the inside over years, and once a hole opens up in the steel, water works its way out the bottom of the unit. It can also be a loose drain valve or a fitting that's failed, which a contractor can check first since those are simple fixes. But if the tank is actually rusted through, the water heater needs to be replaced, not repaired.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- The most common cause is a worn thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the pilot is burning. When it wears out, it fails to sense the flame and shuts the gas off even though the pilot is lit. A dirty pilot orifice or a draft in the area can also blow the flame out. A contractor can test the thermocouple and clean or replace it, which usually solves the problem.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most tankless water heater problems are repairable. Common issues include a scaled-up heat exchanger, a failed igniter, a blocked vent, or an error code pointing to a specific sensor or valve. A contractor can diagnose which part has failed and replace it in most cases, though a unit with a cracked heat exchanger usually needs to be replaced instead.