Hot Water Tank doesn't hold water ?

lhartl

lhartl

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Hello,

We have a hot water tank that is not producing hot water. When I went to drain it, I realized that its not holding any water - about six cups of water emptied from the tank. So I tried to refill it and it just stops filling after about 10 seconds and about 6 cups of water are in the tank.

I have tripped the pressure relief valve - not sure how to test it other than lift it and let the water run out.

Any suggestions on what might be causing this problem? We are at the lake and of course, no plumbers for 150 kilometeres!

thanks,
Linda
 
If you push on the tank does it rock?

Some times the drain valve will clog and not let much water out.

How old is the unit?
 
thanks for the response,

the unit is five years old. It does not rock. The drain is on the lower side of the unit and so I can see that it is running freely.
Is there another drain on the bottom of the unit?
When I try to refill it, the water stops filling after about 6 cups of water. any other ideas?
 
Hi again,

When I turn on the hot water tap, the water runs through just fine - except its not hot! Is there something inside that tells it when to stop filling up with water that may be wonky?

thanks for the reply!
Linda
 
lhartl said:
Hello, When I went to drain it, I realized that its not holding any water - about six cups of water emptied from the tank
Click to expand...
Open a hot water valve somewhere in the house and see if this helps. If there is no air to replace the water the tank will pull a vacuum and the water will stop flowing. By opening a hot water valve air is allowed to replace the water that is leaving the tank and it should empty completely.
 
At this point, I would think that, you need to call a plumber to fix the heater.

Why is it that you want to drain the heater?
 
Hi again,

I have a plumber coming this evening.

The only reason I was trying to drain it was to see if there was sediment in the tank that may have caused the tank to not produce hot water.

that's when I realized that it wasn't holding any water in the tank!

the plumber that I talked to earlier on the phone thinks that maybe a burned out element is causing the problem, we'll see tonight.

cheers,
linda
 
If for some reason the tank wasn't full and the thermostat turned on, you certainly burned out one or both of the elements. The bigger question is why was it empty.
 
heater

Your tank is not empty. Without a way for air to enter the tank the water cannot drain out. But that is not the reason the tank is not heating. You have an electrical problem which could be a bad element, or elements, or it could be something else altogether.
 
On electric water heaters you can put your ear to the panel where each element is (upper & lower) while it's on...you should hear a light humming sound, otherwise it's a bad element (so my wife says of me).
 
If you have good water pressure when you open a hot water tap, then the tank must be full. Notice in the diagram that the cold water must go to the bottom via the "dip tube" which forces the hot water to leave out the top.

One unlikely scenario is that your dip tube is broken, and the incoming cold water goes straight out the outlet because the rest of the tank is full of crud.
 

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