Water Heater Repair in Leeds, ND
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Cold winters and outages both work against your water heater
From December through February, nights here average 1°F, and your water heater has to work harder just to hold its temperature. The burner or heating element cycles more to keep up, and that extra cycling wears on the parts that light it or control it. You notice it first as hot water running out sooner than it used to.
Benson County has seen 39 winter storms and 87 damaging wind events over the last ten years, and across North Dakota, 7 percent of households lost power for a full day or more in 2024. A gas water heater with a standing pilot will keep heating through an outage like that. One with electronic ignition, or an electric tank, will not start again until the power is back.
- 1°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 9 months
- September through May, the months homes here need heat
- 7%
- of North Dakota 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 $80 a year off hot water for a typical North Dakota home.
Estimates for a typical North Dakota home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and North 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?
- The most common cause is the tank itself has rusted through from the inside and is failing. Water heaters store water in a steel tank with a glass lining, and once that lining cracks, the steel underneath corrodes until it gives way. A leak can also come from a loose drain valve or a fitting where a pipe connects to the tank, and those can sometimes be tightened or replaced. If the tank itself is leaking, it needs to be replaced, since there is no way to patch a rusted tank.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- Most of the time this means the thermocouple has worn out and can no longer sense that the pilot is lit, so the gas valve shuts it off. A weak or dirty pilot flame will cause the same problem, since the thermocouple needs steady contact with the flame to work. A draft blowing across the pilot can also blow it out repeatedly. A contractor can test the thermocouple and replace it if that is the cause.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most tankless water heater problems can be repaired rather than requiring a full replacement. Common repairs include cleaning mineral buildup out of the heat exchanger, replacing a failed igniter, or clearing a blocked vent. If the unit is throwing an error code, that code usually points a contractor straight to the part that has failed.