Water Heater Repair in Scranton, PA
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Nine months of cold water coming in
Your water heater works from September through May here, and on winter nights that average 19°F the water coming into the tank is as cold as it gets. The heating element or burner has to work harder and longer to bring it up to temperature, and that extra runtime wears on the parts that do the work, the thermostat, the heating element, the gas valve. You notice it as water that takes longer to heat back up, or a tank that runs out faster than it used to.
Lackawanna County has also seen 16 winter storms and 127 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and 15% of Pennsylvania households lost power for a full day or more in 2024. When the power drops, an electric water heater stops until it comes back on, and most units restart on their own, but a gas unit with an electronic ignition can lose its pilot in the outage and need it relit.
- 19°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 9 months
- September through May, the months homes here need heat
- 15%
- of Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania home.
Estimates for a typical Pennsylvania home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and Pennsylvania 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 reason is that the tank itself has rusted through from the inside and is starting to fail. Sediment builds up at the bottom of the tank over years and traps moisture against the steel, which eats through it eventually. Water can also drip from the bottom if a fitting or the drain valve is loose, or if the temperature and pressure relief valve is letting water past it. A contractor needs to look at where the water is actually coming from, because a leaking tank means replacement while a loose fitting is a simple fix.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- Usually the thermocouple has worn out and can no longer sense that the pilot is burning, so the gas valve shuts it off. This is a small part and replacing it is a common repair on older gas water heaters. A dirty or misaligned pilot orifice can cause the same problem, and so can a draft affecting the pilot flame. If you have already tried relighting it a couple times and it will not hold, that points to the thermocouple rather than something you did wrong.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most problems with a tankless water heater are repairable rather than a reason to replace the whole unit. Mineral buildup on the heat exchanger is common and can be flushed out, especially since tankless units run water through narrow passages that scale up faster than a tank does. Igniters, sensors, and fans can also fail on their own and get swapped out individually. A contractor can pull the error code the unit is showing and tell you which part is causing it.