How To Tell (With Certainty) If Your Water Heater Is Leaking?

What’s that?

A puddle—a big puddle—of water on your bathroom floor!

Looking closely and you find the puddle tracing back to your water heater…

Could it be a potential leak in your water heater that has caused this mess or could it be something else.

Something Else – What It Could Be?

It’s not necessary that if your water heater has been found sitting in a pool of water, the cause of the unwanted water is a leakage in your water heater.  It’s likely to be, but not always.

  • It could be condensed humid air, dripped on the floor, resulting in the formation of a puddle over a course of days.
  • It could be a leak in pipe fittings—pipes that are supplying the plumbing fixtures lying in close proximity to your water heater.

So, you have a number of possible scenarios explaining the puddle of water found on your bathroom floor, besides a potential leak in your water heater.

You decide to run a comprehensive check.

Running a Comprehensive Check – What To Do?

First things first, mop the bathroom floor. You don’t want to slip over the wet floor and harm yourself in the process. Once you have mopped the floor, inspect closely the water heater and nearby fittings and fixtures for any visible signs of a potential water leakage.

Check thoroughly and cover the entire space. Be patient, this requires time—but you are on the right path.

Can’t find any visible signs of a leak?

That rules out your plumbing fittings and fixtures. For any signs of leakage on either of them are easy to spot.

That leaves your water heater and potential source of condensation.

Cover the area around your water heater with some paper towels and leave your bathroom. Periodically check the towels — after every few hours — to see if there are any signs of soaking. If needed, leave the paper towels for a couple of days.

Later, when checking, if you find any significant signs of soaking, it confirms your water heater is leaking. Condensation won’t yield significant soaking in a small-time window—it requires at least a week.

Get Your Water Heater Repaired

Your 1 Plumber FL provides professional plumbing services in Delray Beach and its surrounding areas. Our plumbers are licensed, knowledgeable and experienced to provide reliable plumbing solutions for water heater leaks – minor and major, in the quickest of time and at affordable rates. Call us at 561-403-1500 to schedule an appointment.

 

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