North Okanagan Plumbing and Heating Services

Great question. Replacing your hot water heater before it bursts will save you some serious stress dealing with an emergency. Leaking and burst water heaters cause expensive damage to floors, furniture and walls, but before this happens, look out for these signs:

• The majority of hot water heaters usually last 8 to 10 years (but not always), so check the installation date.
• Rusty coloured water (although this could be the pipes, but either way we can check and solve this issue for you).
• Water heater noise like rumbling coming from the tank, possibly due to sediment buildup.
• Leaking: If you see water on the floor around the tank, it’s probably time to call us for a new water heater installation, especially if the tank’s expiration date is due. Leaking can also be caused by a problem with connections and fittings, which we can fix for you.
• Is your hot water heater not heating the water? Loss of heat can be due to a misadjusted thermostat, broken heating element or a tank that needs replacement.

If it’s time to replace your hot water tank, you may want to consider a tankless heat-on-demand unit. Ask us about heating solutions and we’ll help you choose the best hot water heating system for your specific needs.

We recommend Amana because they offer some of the best warranties in the industry – and high-quality affordable products. We only install reliable HVAC systems, and we have confidence in the Amana brand. Amana uses the latest technologies to manufacture HVAC systems for homes of all sizes, saving energy consumption (so you pay less for heating and cooling bills) and producing high efficiency equipment.

There are many ways to cut down on seasonal energy consumption, and one way is to shut down your furnace during the summer. Turning the thermostat to zero doesn’t shut your furnace down, it just turns it off and the pilot light keeps running. Shutting your furnace down for the summer means turning off the pilot light and shutting off the electrical. If this is something you want to do this summer, we highly recommend calling us so one of our technicians can turn your system off safely.

IF you have a central air conditioner as part of your HVAC system, don’t turn off the electrical to the furnace through the breaker because they share the same blower fan and electrical components; turning off the electrical to your furnace in this scenario will also turn off your A/C. There are other considerations when shutting your furnace down for the summer, including starting it back up in the fall when the nights start to get cold. If this is one of your concerns, please call us with your questions on furnace maintenance.