Question: I read the article in the February 12 edition of Sun Day about dripping sounds from a furnace. I have a similar problem, but it stems from my water heater. I have an Albright townhome, and this problem has occurred since I moved in over ten years ago. There is what sounds like a dripping sound when the water heater reheats. It starts as soon as it starts and ends when the water heater shuts off. It is loud, especially at night. The sound comes from an area in the master bedroom ceiling, where I believe the exhaust pipes run to the roof. The Del Webb customer service people (the ones that were around when we bought the house) were unable to do anything except call the contractor. They came out and couldn’t figure it out.
Answer: The noise you are describing is caused by sediment on the bottom of the tank. Sediment is just loose minerals that settle from the city water to the bottom of your water heater tank. This sediment forms an insulating layer between the water and the gas flame that is attempting to heat the water. Some of the water under the sediment starts boiling and tries to escape the sediment layer, making the popping noise as steam bubbles escape the sediment.
I would guess that you have not been draining water from your tank each year to remove this sediment. Normal maintenance is to attach a garden hose to the drain valve at the bottom of the tank and drain about five gallons once or twice a year. If you have never done this and your water heater is ten years old, be aware that there is a chance the sediment in the tank could clog the valve and prevent it from being closed. I would not drain your tank. At ten years, it is very close to the end of its life. When you replace it with a new tank, be sure to start draining five gallons once or twice a year.
Where is it?
There are two devices on your house that run on low voltage (12v) rather than the standard house voltage of 120v. These are the doorbell and the lighted house number. When the doorbell fails to work, the problem is usually a bad doorbell button. If the button sticks in the on position, it can also burn out the bell solenoid. If the lighted house number goes dark, it is usually that one of the bulbs burned out. Since the bulbs are wired in series, if one burns out, they both go out. You can try to find the bad one and replace it or you can just pull out the old ones and put two new ones in their place. To remove the old bulbs just pull them out of the sockets. To install the new ones, just push them into the sockets. If these fixes don’t work, the problem may be that the transformer has failed. This is the tricky part. These transformers are sometimes difficult to find. We have seen them in two locations. One is on the side of the furnace. The other location is in the attic on the box that mounts the attic light. Be sure to trip the circuit breaker before touching the wires on the transformer. Be sure you know which one you have found by removing one of the low voltage wires and verifying that the other device has also stopped working.
If you have suggestions for future tips or have questions about maintenance around your home submit them to ask.the.woodchucks@gmail.com
