Water Heater Repair in Ottawa, IL
Tell us what your water heater is doing, and a licensed contractor who covers LaSalle County will get in touch.
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Winter storms here put your water heater's power at risk
Winters here run October through May, with nights averaging 19°F from December through February. Cold weather like that comes with storms, and LaSalle County has seen 19 winter storms and 124 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Storms like these knock out power, and in Illinois, 16% of households went at least 24 hours without it in 2024.
If your water heater runs on electricity, losing power shuts it down completely. Most units come back on by themselves once power returns, but they still have to reheat a full tank of cold water from scratch, so you may not have hot water again right away.
- 19°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 8 months
- October through May, the months homes here need heat
- 16%
- of Illinois households lost power for a day or more in 2024, and a heater with an electric element or electric ignition stops without it
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new water heater would cut about $60 a year off hot water for a typical Illinois home.
Estimates for a typical Illinois home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and Illinois fuel prices. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when an element, thermostat or gas valve has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the tank itself is leaking.
- Why is my water heater leaking from the bottom?
- Most often the tank itself has rusted through and is starting to fail. Water heaters have a steel tank with a glass lining inside, and once that lining cracks, the steel underneath corrodes until it gives way. A leak could also come from a loose drain valve at the bottom or a fitting that has worked itself loose, both of which a contractor can check before assuming the tank is done. If the tank is the source, the unit needs to be replaced, since a leaking tank cannot be patched or sealed.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- The most common cause is a worn thermocouple, the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it is safe to keep the gas flowing. When it wears out, it fails to sense the flame properly and shuts the gas off, even though the pilot lit fine a moment ago. A dirty pilot orifice or a draft blowing the flame around can cause the same problem. A standing pilot runs without power, so a power outage will not explain it going out.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most problems with a tankless unit can be fixed without replacing it. Common issues are a scaled-up heat exchanger, a failed igniter, or an error code pointing to a specific sensor, and each of these can usually be repaired on its own. Because tankless units run on a control board with several sensors, a contractor needs to read the error code first to know exactly what's failing rather than guessing at parts.