Water Heater Repair in Kent, OH
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Cold groundwater and long winters wear on Kent water heaters
Your water heater works to warm groundwater that's coming in cold from October through May, eight months of the year. On nights that average 21°F, a unit in an unheated garage or basement has to work harder just to keep up, and the burner or heating element runs longer to get the same result. That extra runtime is what wears out a heating element or an igniter years before it should.
Portage County has seen 93 damaging wind events over the past decade, and storms like these knock out power. Statewide, 18% of Ohio households lost power for 24 hours or more in 2024. Gas water heaters with a standing pilot keep working through an outage, but electric units go cold at the same moment your house does, and when the power comes back on, some units need to be manually reset or relit before they'll heat water again.
- 21°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 8 months
- October through May, the months homes here need heat
- 18%
- of Ohio households lost power for a day or more in 2024, and a heater with an electric element or electric ignition stops without it
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new water heater would cut about $70 a year off hot water for a typical Ohio home.
Estimates for a typical Ohio home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and Ohio 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 is failing. Water heater tanks are lined, but once that lining wears out the steel underneath corrodes and starts to weep, usually slow at first and then steady. It can also be a loose drain valve or a fitting that's simply worked itself loose, which is a repair rather than a replacement. A leak from a fitting will show water only near that spot, while a tank leak tends to show up as water pooling underneath the whole unit. Either way, a leaking tank needs attention quickly, since it won't stop and will only get worse.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- The most common cause is a worn thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the pilot is burning. When it wears out, it can't confirm the flame and the gas valve shuts off, even though the pilot lit just fine a moment before. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot tube can cause the same thing. A thermocouple is a simple, inexpensive part to replace, so if relighting the pilot only buys you a few hours before it goes out again, that's usually the part at fault.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most problems with a tankless water heater are repairable. Common issues include a clogged inlet filter, a buildup of scale on the heat exchanger, a failed igniter, or an error code pointing to a specific sensor. Scale buildup is worth asking about directly, since tankless units need periodic descaling to keep working properly, and skipping it is what leads to bigger repairs down the line. A contractor can read the unit's error code and tell you exactly which part is causing the problem.