Water Heater Repair in Ellensburg, WA
Tell us what your water heater is doing, and a licensed contractor who covers Kittitas County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Winter storms here mean water heater outages
Ellensburg homes need heat from September through June, ten months a year, and winter nights average 23°F from December through February. That is a long stretch of cold weather leaning on every appliance in the house, the water heater included.
Kittitas County has logged 26 winter storms and 3 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and across Washington almost a quarter of households went at least a day without power in 2024. When the power goes out, an electric water heater stops heating until it comes back on. A gas water heater with electronic ignition may need to be relit or reset once power returns. If the water has gone lukewarm or cold after an outage, or it never came back on its own, that is where to start looking.
- 23°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 10 months
- September through June, the months homes here need heat
- 23%
- of Washington 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 $280 a year off hot water for a typical Washington home.
Estimates for a typical Washington home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and Washington 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 water is escaping from the inside out. This happens when sediment builds up and holds moisture against the tank wall over years of use. It can also be a loose drain valve or a fitting that has failed, which a contractor can check before assuming the tank is done. Once the tank itself is leaking, though, the unit needs to be replaced, not repaired.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- The most common reason is a worn thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is lit. When it wears out it can't confirm the flame anymore, so the gas valve shuts off even though the pilot was burning fine a second ago. A weak pilot flame, a draft blowing across it, or a clogged pilot tube can cause the same thing. A contractor can test the thermocouple and replace it without touching the rest of the water heater.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most problems with a tankless unit are repairable. Mineral buildup on the heat exchanger, a failed igniter, or a flow sensor that's stopped reading correctly are all things a contractor can service without replacing the unit. A contractor can tell you whether what's wrong is a service item or something that points to replacing the unit instead.