Hot Water Heater High Pitched Noise? Why, Oh Why?!

 

What home doesn’t have a hot water heater? This plumbing appliance is a staple in many countries because it provides homeowners a great deal of comfort and convenience. What’s even better is that it’s quite durable. With proper care and maintenance, you can expect your hot water heater to last for 15 to 25 years. However, you should be aware that even with its well-known durability, it is still not immune to malfunction and damage. Among the most common problems you’ll encounter include:

·         Corrosion in the tank

·         Smelly water

·         Failure to heat water

·         Leaks

·         Bacteria presence in the tank

In certain cases, you’ll also experience hearing weird noises reverberating from the system, too. If you ever hear a high pitched noise coming from your water heater, it could be an indication that the tank needs to be flushed already. As sediments accumulate at the bottom of the tank, your water heating system exerts more effort and energy in warming water. Thus, the high pitched noise is produced. Here’s what you should do.

1. Turn the water heater off as well as the circuit breaker where it is connected to. Do this to prevent accidents like electrocution. If on the other hand you have a gas heater, you just have to set the control valve to “pilot”.

2. Once power to the heating system is turned off, you’ll then have to close the cold water supply valve. Just turn the knob located at the top of the heater to do this.

3. Now attach a garden hose to the water heater’s drain valve. Make sure that it is secured with screws to guarantee that it won’t get loose while the tank drains. The other end of the hose should be led into a floor drain, a tub or a sink for easy water disposal and to avoid flooding the work area.

4. Check on the T&P valve. Open it to relieve the tank of excess pressure and temperature. Just be very careful because the vapor is hot.

5. Afterwards, open the drain valve and let the water inside the tank drain. You’ll notice that the water is grayish. Wait until you’ve completely emptied the tank.

6. Let the water cool down and then shut the pressure relief valve off. If the garden hose gets clogged, you’ll have to detach it from the drain valve and remove the blockage with a screwdriver.

7. Connect the garden hose to the drain valve again while the latter is closed. Turn the cold water supply valve on in order to perform a power flush.

8. Close the drain valve. Detach the garden hose and close the pressure relief valve. Turn the water supply valve on again once you’re done flushing the tank.

9. Turn one of your faucets on to remove the air trapped in the heater and in the pipes. Let the water run until it flows smoothly out of the tap.

10. Restart the hot water heater.

We hope that you learned the cause of hot water heater high pitched noise and how to get rid of it. If the problem persists, just call a reputable plumber to repair your water heater. Plumbers 911 provides emergency plumbing services including water heater repair, water heater installation, leak detection, drain pipe cleaning, camera sewer inspection and many more!