Water Heater Won T Ignite After Flood

Drain all the water in the flooded place but make sure electrical connections are switched off first to avoid shorted circuits.

Water heater won t ignite after flood. Not only has the control shorted out you ll have issues with the burner assembly thermopile and flammable vapor sensor. The pilot light is a small flame that ignites the gas burner. Shut off the gas valves if any switch off water lines and let the tanks drain as well. Check the water heater especially if it is an electrical one or a gas one with tanks.

Allow the water heater to sit until it is completely dry. When the water heater pilot light goes out first try relighting it following the directions on the water heater label. Although a gas water heater may be able to be re lit after it has been submerged there is no way to determine the safety or the functionality of the water heater. Turn off the gas supply if you didn t get a chance to turn it off before the flood.

The pilot light in your hot water heater does more than simply ignite the gas. Going against what others have suggested you should replace the water heater. If you already used a digital multimeter to test the disconnected thermocouple for around 20mv when holding down the pilot button and a sparked lit pilot your gas pilot aluminum tube may still need disassembly and cleaning sometimes of an inner inline orifice near the flame tip to provide the sufficient heat to the thermocouple tip during normal operation of the water heater. The cost of repair and labor will most certainly be near the price of a new heater.

If you have a natural gas or propane water heater and have opened your hot water faucet to find that there s no hot water the usual culprit is the pilot light going out. Turn the gas control valve to the off position. I am posting this video as there are many videos on youtube explaining what to do if your pilot light doesn t remain on after igniting but couldn t find a v. Need to hire a plumber.

At all plumbing we have had many calls to replace flood damaged heaters and in some cases we are getting requests to relight gas heaters that have been submerged in water. If the pilot doesn t relight if it goes out right after lighting or if the pilot light keeps going out by far the most common cause is a bad thermocouple. Without it the water heater won t be able to maintain internal temperatures allowing the water to cool off.