The other night, temperatures dropped below freezing. We were snug in our wee little beds and didn’t realize how cold it was getting outside. When we woke up the next morning, we had no hot water. We thought our pipes had frozen and figured that when the sun came up all the way, things would start to thaw out and we’d be back in business. But no such luck. We left the faucet fully on, just waiting for it to break through. And waiting. And waiting.
My husband did some investigating and discovered some dripping water in a pipe under the heater. We live in a trailer home, so our water heater is in a little closet on the back of the house. He climbed under the house and found a little puddle there. Fearing we’d broken a pipe, he called our park manager.
While he was on the phone, water just started gushing into the sink from the open faucet. Our park manager put two and two together from what my husband was telling him, and we soon figured out that we didn’t have a broken pipe, or frozen pipes. We had a problem with our water release valve.
Every water heater has a release valve on it. You need to release that valve every few months in order to keep the pressure right, to keep temperatures stable, and to keep the tank from exploding. We had neglected to do this, and it was letting off what pressure it could, in the form of dripping out water. My husband released the valve, the hot water once again started to flow, and we learned a very important lesson.
When you have an item in your home that has a potential to cause accident or injury, such as a water heater, it’s important that you know how to care for that item. Pull out the instruction manual that goes to your water heater and carefully read up on how to maintain it properly. If you don’t have the manual, take note of the model make and number and look it up online. It also wouldn’t hurt a thing to have a heating and plumbing expert pay a visit to your home and teach you how to do it. It’s not just a matter of having hot water when you want it. It’s a matter of safety for you and your family.
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