Water Heater Repair in Savannah, GA
Tell us what your water heater is doing, and a licensed contractor who covers Chatham County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Chatham County's power outages are hard on water heaters
Nearly a third of Georgia households lost power for a day or more in 2024, and Chatham County sees its share of wind events that knock lines down, 246 of them over the past ten years. Every time the power drops and comes back, an electric water heater's thermostat and heating element take a jolt they weren't built to take often. Gas water heaters with electronic ignition can fail to relight on their own, and you're left with cold water until someone resets it.
Winter nights here still get cold enough, averaging 42°F from December through February, that your water heater works harder to bring water up to temperature. A tank that was already struggling to keep up shows it first on those nights, with water that never gets fully hot or takes much longer than it used to.
- 42°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
A new water heater would cut about $330 a year off hot water for a typical Georgia home.
Estimates for a typical Georgia home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and Georgia fuel prices. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when an element, thermostat or gas valve has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the tank itself is leaking.
- 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 the years, and once the steel gives way, water finds a path out through the bottom. A loose drain valve or a fitting can also leak from that area, and those can be fixed. But if the tank is actually cracked or rusted through, the only real fix is replacing the unit. A contractor can tell you which one you are dealing with by checking the valve, the fittings, and the tank seams.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- This usually points to the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the pilot is burning. When it wears out or sits out of position, it shuts the gas off even though the flame is still lit, because it can no longer sense the heat correctly. A dirty pilot tube or a draft blowing across the flame can cause the same thing. Cleaning or replacing the thermocouple solves most cases, but a gas valve issue can look the same and needs a contractor to sort out which one it is.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most tankless water heater problems are repairable. Issues with ignition, the flow sensor, or mineral buildup inside the heat exchanger are common and a contractor can usually clear or replace the failed part. Hard water buildup is one of the more frequent causes of lost heating power, and it responds well to descaling. Replacement only comes into play when the heat exchanger itself has failed, which is less common.