DIY Water Heater Maintenance You Can Tackle On Your Own

Don’t consider yourself too handy? That’s quite alright — you’ve got plenty of other things to worry about. But we’ll bet you do like saving a few bucks whenever possible, right? Well, when it comes to your water heater, you’ll be happy to know you can take care of a few simple water heater maintenance tasks relatively quickly and without having much prior knowledge at all. See below to find out what you can do on your own, before you call in the experts:

Setting The Water Heater Thermostat

If you can set a clock and you can set the temperature on any of the thermostats in your home, chances are, you’ll be able to set the thermostat on your water heater, too! All you need to do is turn the dial to the recommended setting (usually 120°F) or below if you want to save a few extra dollars on your utility bill each month. *You may need to use a screwdriver to remove the cover on the temperature dial on certain models.* 

Insulating The Pipes

All you need for this project is some self-sticking foam pipe insulation and a scissor. Simply measure the length of the hot and cold water pipes and then cut a piece of foam to wrap around them. Insulating the hot pipe can help keep energy bills low, while insulating the cold pipe can help prevent condensation during the warmer months of the year.

Insulating The Tank

Why insulate your water heater tank? Doing so can help keep the tank warm for a longer period of time which will in turn, prevent the water inside the tank from cooling off as quickly. This will prevent your system from kicking on as frequently as it might if the tank were not insulated, which can ultimately help you save on energy bills.

All you need to do is cut a piece of insulating blanket to fit around the tank, and around the pipes, and then seal it with foil tape. Just remember that you never want to cover the tops of oil or gas heaters as this can cause some major issues. You can however, cover the top of your electric water heater with a piece of circular insulation and tape it down to the sides of the tank.

Give Aztec Plumbing & Drains a call at 239-932-2959 today to learn more about our water heater services in your area!

Learn More in Our Water Heater Series:

• How to Maintain a Water Heater
• My Water Heater is Running Out of Hot Water
• My Water Heater is Making Noise
• Why Does My Water Heater Smell like Rotten Eggs?
• Why Won’t My Water Heater Drain?
• Pros and Cons of Tankless Water Heaters
• How Long Should I Wait for Hot Water?
• How to Tell Your Water Heater Age?
• Dealing with Hard Water in Your Water Heater
• Water Heaters 101
• How Often Should I Flush My Water Heater?
• Is a 40 Gallon Water Heater Enough?