Water Heater Repair in Yankton, SD
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Cold groundwater keeps your water heater working harder here
Winter nights in Yankton County average 13°F from December through February, and that cold reaches the water main feeding your house. Your water heater has to work harder to bring that water up to temperature, and it does that for eight months of the year, October through May. That extra strain wears on the heating element or burner and on the thermostat that controls it, so those parts tend to give out sooner here than in a place with milder winters.
The county has also logged 35 winter storms and 62 damaging wind events over the last ten years. Power loss during one of those can leave a tank cooling down for hours. When the power comes back, most water heaters restart on their own, but you may still be left with lukewarm water until the tank catches back up.
- 13°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 8 months
- October through May, the months homes here need heat
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new water heater would cut about $50 a year off hot water for a typical South Dakota home.
Estimates for a typical South Dakota home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and South Dakota fuel prices. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when an element, thermostat or gas valve has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the tank itself is leaking.
- Why is my water heater leaking from the bottom?
- Most often the tank itself has rusted through, and once that happens the tank needs to be replaced, not patched. Sediment settles at the bottom of the tank over years and corrodes the steel from the inside, so by the time you see water it has usually been rusting for a while. A leak from the bottom can also come from the drain valve or a fitting that has loosened, which a contractor can check before deciding the tank is done for. Shut off the water and power to the tank until it has been looked at, since a full tank that fails can put out a lot of water fast.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- Usually the thermocouple has worn out and is no longer telling the gas valve the flame is lit, so the valve shuts the gas off. A dirty or partly blocked pilot orifice can do the same thing by starving the flame. Wind or a draft in the area around the water heater can also blow a pilot out repeatedly, which is worth ruling out first. If you relight it and it goes out again within a minute or so, the thermocouple is the most likely reason.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most problems with a tankless unit are repairable rather than a reason to replace it. Common issues are a scaled-up heat exchanger, a failed igniter, or a blocked vent, and each of those can be cleaned or replaced on its own. Because winters here run cold from December through February, a tankless unit that is struggling to keep up with hot water demand is worth having checked before the coldest months rather than during them. A contractor can flush the unit and test its parts to find out which one is causing the problem.