Water Heater Repair in Charlotte, NC
Tell us what your water heater is doing, and a licensed contractor who covers Mecklenburg County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Mecklenburg County's power outages take a toll on your water heater
Winter nights here average 32°F from December through February, so your water heater works harder those months, and it works that hard from October through April. That is seven months of longer, more frequent heating cycles on the heating element or the burner.
A quarter of North Carolina households went at least 24 hours without power last year, and the county has logged 122 damaging wind events and 6 winter storms over the past ten years. A gas water heater with a standing pilot will stay lit through an outage, but most electric units and gas units with electronic ignition shut down and need to be turned back on once power returns. If yours never fired back up, or the water never got hot again after the lights came back, that is usually where to start looking.
- 32°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 7 months
- October through April, the months homes here need heat
- 25%
- of North Carolina 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 $300 a year off hot water for a typical North Carolina home.
Estimates for a typical North Carolina home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and North Carolina 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?
- The most common cause is the tank itself has corroded through and is failing from the inside. Sediment builds up at the bottom of the tank over years, and it traps moisture against the steel until it rusts through. A leak can also come from a loose drain valve or a fitting at the bottom of the tank, and those can sometimes be tightened or replaced. If the tank itself is leaking, it needs to be replaced, since there is no way to seal a hole in the steel.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- Most of the time this means the thermocouple has worn out. That's the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it is safe to keep gas flowing. Once it wears out, it can't hold that signal, so the valve shuts off the gas and the pilot goes out. A weak pilot flame, a draft near the burner, or a dirty pilot orifice can also cause it, so a contractor will check each of those before replacing anything.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most problems with a tankless water heater are repairable. Common issues are a buildup of mineral scale on the heat exchanger, a failed igniter, a clogged inlet filter, or an error code from a sensor. A contractor can flush the unit, clean or replace the affected part, and get it back to heating water on demand. It's rare for the whole unit to need replacing unless the heat exchanger itself has failed.