What would make our hot water heater keep clicking on?

[milovany]

We're not using it, it's late at night, and yet regularly throughout the day (and night) we can hear it click on and off every couple to a few minutes. DH has checked around inside and out, and doesn't think any water is dripping/leaking anywhere (although I don't think he went all the way under the house yet to make sure). I think the water heater is fairly new (we just bought the house in June). Any insight? We're just hoping this isn't costing extra money until we figure it out ...........

[Forget-Me-Not]

They can develop sediment (esp if you have hard water) that you can hear rattling around in there sometimes. Ours does that too. My dad told us we could flush it if it really bugged us, but it's in the garage so we don't hear it much.

[milovany]

They can develop sediment (esp if you have hard water) that you can hear rattling around in there sometimes. Ours does that too. My dad told us we could flush it if it really bugged us, but it's in the garage so we don't hear it much.

 

It sounds like the unit clicks on, hums for a little bit, then clicks off. Not so much of a rattling, although I think we do have hard water and maybe I should ask dh about this.

Edited August 12, 2010 by milovaný

[Amber in AUS]

We have a water meter on the street we can check if we think there is a water problem. Do you have one? Turn off all the water in the house then go check the meter. If it is still running then you have a leak somewhere. It could be in a wall or in the ground concealed.

 

The thermostat could be playing up on the hot water heater too. A storage hot water system will flick on and off to maintain a constant temp inside regardless if you are using the water. Our system goes on and off too, but every couple of hours, not minutes.

 

HTH

[RegGuheert]

We're not using it, it's late at night, and yet regularly throughout the day (and night) we can hear it click on and off every couple to a few minutes. DH has checked around inside and out, and doesn't think any water is dripping/leaking anywhere (although I don't think he went all the way under the house yet to make sure). I think the water heater is fairly new (we just bought the house in June). Any insight? We're just hoping this isn't costing extra money until we figure it out ...........

Our current water heater has electronic controls. FWIW, it is a Whirlpool EnergySmart unit. The original controls failed soon after we purchased the unit. Anyway, these things clicked on and off frequently for a year or so before the thing finally quit heating water properly. I called the manufacturer and they send us a new control board. Once I replaced that, the constant clicking has stopped.

 

If you have an electronic controller (ours sits on top of the unit), then perhaps it is the cause of the clicking.

 

Otherwise, if you have a lot of calcium hardness in your water your heating elements could be caked with deposits. This may cause the elements to quickly overheat and cycle on and off.

[milovany]

DH corrected me: it's not the hot water heater that keeps clicking on, but the in-house pressure thing that draws the water from the well.

 

SO -- he dug around today and found a half-the-size-of-a-dime sized hole in the old, rusted galvanized pipe that runs from the actual pump (outside) to the house. Whenever we run water, water has been leaking out this hole. Yikes! Dh now has a project for a little while. Thank God for handy husbands. :001_smile: