Water heater leaking from the bottom: what to do in the next five minutes
Shut the water, shut the gas, then find out whether it is the tank or a part. A step by step for Orange County homeowners standing in a puddle.
If there is water on the floor around your water heater right now, do these four things in order. Then read the rest.
The first five minutes
- Close the cold water inlet. It is the valve on the pipe going into the top of the tank, usually a lever or a round handle. Turning it off stops the tank refilling, which stops the leak growing.
- Turn off the fuel. On a gas heater, turn the control knob on the front of the gas valve to OFF. On an electric heater, switch off its breaker. Heating an emptying tank is how you crack one.
- Move anything that will be ruined. Cardboard boxes, the vacuum, whatever is stored next to it.
- Call. (714) 676-8175, 24 hours. Do not use the form for an active leak. A phone call is faster.
Where is the water actually coming from?
Not every puddle under a water heater is a dead water heater. Before you assume the worst, look at three places.
The T&P valve. The temperature and pressure relief valve is on the side or top of the tank with a pipe running down from it. If the water is coming out of the end of that pipe, the valve is doing its job, usually because pressure in the tank is too high. On a closed plumbing system (any house with a pressure regulator at the meter) that means the expansion tank is missing or has failed. That is a part, not a tank.
The fittings on top. The hot and cold connections, and the flex lines. A drip here runs down the outside of the tank and collects at the base, and it looks exactly like a tank leak. Dry the top of the tank with a towel and watch where the water reappears. A fitting is a part, not a tank.
The drain valve. The small tap near the bottom. They are cheap plastic on many tanks and they weep. A part, not a tank.
If the top is dry, the T&P pipe is dry, the drain valve is dry, and water is still appearing at the base or from under the outer jacket, the leak is through the tank body. The glass lining inside has failed and water is coming through the steel. There is no repair for that, and the fix is a replacement.
Why the pan matters
If your heater is standing in a metal or plastic pan with a pipe running out of it, that pan just saved your floor. If it is not, and the heater sits over finished floor or in an upstairs closet, a pan and a drain line are part of every install we do, because this exact morning is what they are for.
What happens when we arrive
We confirm where the water is coming from in the first few minutes, because the answer changes the whole job. A T&P or fitting leak on a tank under ten years old is a repair, usually done on the spot. A tank body leak is a replacement, and we carry the common sizes so it is usually done the same day. Either way you get the number before the work starts.
More on how the emergency side works, including what “same day” honestly means, is on the emergency service page.
