Electric water heaters: How to solve 3 frequent problems

This handy mini-guide shows how to solve 3 of the most frequent problems that can occur if you have an electric water heater. Because many of you will have had the problem of the hot water “drying up” when you’re in the middle of a shower or of hearing strange noises. Or maybe you’ve noticed some suspicious leakages of water… If we’re good at manual jobs, we can look for a solution ourselves before calling out a technician. Here are some tips. 1. The water heater is noisy If your electric water heater is making strange noises, it might be due to limescale deposited over the years on the inside of the tank. This is a fairly frequent situation, especially in cities where drinking water has high levels of calcium in it. To get rid of the noise it may well be enough to proceed as follows:

• set the switch on the water heater to “Off” and maybe also the home’s main power switch;
• close the water valve in the bathroom to avoid flooding;
• drain the water (having first made sure it’s cooled down) into a bucket;
• leave the water heater off for a few hours and then fill it again after having re-opened the water valve and the tap and put the main power switch back on.

In this way we ought to have eliminated the noise, as well as having made our water heater more efficient. Because when limescale builds up, water heating times tend to rise, which pushes up electricity bills. If the problem persists, we call a technician to carry out a thorough cleaning of the inner walls of the tank. 2. It doesn’t produce any hot water First of all we should check that the taps connecting the electric water heater to the plumbing are actually open: if they are, the problem may be a locked safety valve, which often happens when an electric water heater has been inactive for a long time. In this case, to release the valve we’ll have to do what the equipment’s instruction booklet tells us, but only after switching off the home’s main power switch and closing the water valve in the bathroom. 3. It’s leaking If it’s leaking from the lower part of the water heater, the problem will often be a malfunctioning of the resistance. To free it from limescale, proceed as in point 1 above. If the problem persists, we recommend calling out a specialist technician to replace the resistance or maybe check whether it’s time to replace the whole electric water heater: click here to discover Ariston’s most innovative models, which can guarantee advanced performance and high thermal comfort.