Water Heater Repair in Rexburg, ID
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Long winters here mean your water heater never gets a break
Homes in Madison County need heat from September through June, ten months of the year. That same stretch is when incoming water runs coldest, so your water heater is working longer and harder for most of the year to get water up to temperature. The heating element or burner assembly is what carries that extra load, and it shows up first as water that takes longer to heat or runs out sooner than it used to.
The county has also logged 103 winter storms and 60 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and 11% of Idaho households went at least a full day without power last year. A gas water heater with a standing pilot will keep working through an outage like that. One with electronic ignition will not relight until the power is back, and a tank that sat cold through a hard freeze is more likely to show a problem when it does.
- 14°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 10 months
- September through June, the months homes here need heat
- 11%
- of Idaho 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 $60 a year off hot water for a typical Idaho home.
Estimates for a typical Idaho home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and Idaho 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 corroded through and is failing from the inside. Sediment builds up in the bottom of the tank over years and eats away at the steel until a pinhole opens up. It can also be a loose drain valve or a fitting that has worked itself loose, which a contractor can check before assuming the tank is done. Once the tank itself is leaking, it needs to be replaced, since there is no way to patch a hole in the steel.
- 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 pilot is lit. The thermocouple is a safety part that sits in the pilot flame, and once it weakens with age it shuts the gas off even though the flame is right there. A dirty pilot orifice or a draft blowing the flame out can cause the same symptom. A standing pilot does not draw any power, so a light that will not stay lit is a gas control or airflow problem, not an electrical one.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most problems with a tankless unit are repairable. Mineral scale on the heat exchanger is the most common issue, and it causes hot water to run lukewarm or shut off after a few minutes. Error codes on the display usually point straight to what is wrong, whether that is the igniter, a flow sensor, or a venting problem. A contractor can flush the scale out or replace the failed part rather than the whole unit in most cases.