A water heater is a major appliance, and one that you may rarely maintain, although it's one that you should be maintaining and paying a little more attention to so you don't end up with problems or breakdowns long before the end of its lifetime. A water heater should be emptied and cleaned out at least once per year, especially if you have a lot of hard water or calcium in your water. Other ways to maintain your water heater include keeping an eye on the temperature setting and keeping objects away from the water heater to prevent damaging the tank and to prevent a fire hazard in your home. To help you repair your water heater if you have a problem, read on for some helpful information.

Adjust the Temperature Setting

If you aren't getting enough hot water, the problem could be because your water temperature setting was turned down. You need to make adjustments to the water heater thermostat to raise the temperature setting. The temperature could have gotten turned down somehow and it just isn't getting hot enough for you. Make an adjustment to see if this helps.

Check Your Gas Valve And Line

If you don't have the gas turned on to your water heater, you aren't going to have hot water at all. Be sure the gas line is turned on all the way and that you aren't smelling any natural gas in your home at all. If you smell natural gas, you could have a leak. Turn off the gas and call your local gas company to have it inspected and then repaired as needed.

Vacuum Your Tank

It may sound odd, but if you have hard water, you could have a lot of sediment in the bottom of your tank. This is what you need to vacuum out of your tank. In order to do this, you'll have to drain the tank and then vacuum the inside to remove the sediment at the bottom. When you drain the tank, you'll have to be careful to prevent burning yourself with the hot water coming out. Turn off the water going to the tank. Once the tank is vacuumed, replace the drain valve and turn the water back onto the tank.

If you have problems with your water heater, there are things you can do to repair it in order to get it working properly. If you continue to have problems with your hot water heater, call a professional HVAC technician to come to inspect your unit and complete a water heater repair.