Fixing a Water Heater

Fellow GRMeronians

I'm in a bit of pickle. The thermostat on our water heater is broken. So it fills to capacity with scalding hot water and then shuts off and has to be reset. I contacted the maker (State Heater) and I'm no longer under warranty. How difficult would it be to replace said thermostat? Or should I call in the professionals?

Electric? They just unscrew. It's not difficult. Lowe's probably even carries the parts.

If its electric, fix it. Its an easy swap. (I worked for a Ferguson and saw this a bunch) If its gas, call a pro. Too many things can go wrong imho.

If it's gas, there's only two parts to the whole thing, the thermocouple and the controller. Basically the thermocouple sits in the pilot light, and as long as it detects a flame everything is hunky dory. If it doesn't detect a flame it signals the controller to shut off the gas, so your house doesn't fill up with gas and explode. If the pilot stays lit, the thermocouple is fine. If the pilot won't stay lit, replace it. If it still doesn't stay lit, replace the control unit. I think the thermocouple is about $10 and the control unit is about $50.

I just replaced mine on my gas heater. Bought a universal thermostat at Lowes. 15 minutes later is was fixed. Not much to it.

Well, that was easy. $9 replacement thermostat and the price of gas and as far as I can tell everything is working fine.

FYI, water heaters are designed with a ten year life span in mind.

I bought a GE gas water heater a few months ago.

Hooked everything up, followed the start-up procedure and……nothing.

Checked all the connections, valve settings, etc., carefully repeated the start-up procedure and…nothing.

It was getting late so I decided to return the unit to the store the next morning.

The next morning, I went out to the garage, it was cold by California standards, and I started the tear-down by connecting a garden hose to the drain valve.

I noticed that the valve was just a little warmer than I’d expect.

I decided to look through the pilot light window one more time and only because it was still dark out could I see a faint blue glow making its way through the heavily tinted, energy efficient glass.

The designers had positioned the window several inches below & to the right of the pilot light so a wildly contorted posture was required to get a direct view of the flame and again, the glow was only visible in darkness.

I wonder how many unnecessary returns GE has had because of this.

Water heater tanks fail because no one replaces the anode rod in the tank. Look it up. They only last 5-7 years or less. If you check the rod and replace it when it gets thin your tank can last 20 years or more.

jimbbski wrote: Water heater tanks fail because no one replaces the anode rod in the tank. Look it up. They only last 5-7 years or less. If you check the rod and replace it when it gets thin your tank can last 20 years or more.

I keep meaning to replace mine - I'm 7.5 years in my new build house.