Homeowner guides
Water heater guides
Start with the symptom. Each guide explains what is happening inside the heater, what you can safely check, how a plumber diagnoses it and when repair stops making sense.
Every guide lists its sources. Nothing here replaces an on-site diagnosis.
All guides
GuideNo hot water
Gas or electric, tank or tankless: the checks that find why the hot water stopped, in the order a plumber would make them.
Read the guide
GuidePilot light keeps going out
Thermocouples, clogged flame arrestors, drafts and gas supply: why a gas water heater pilot won't stay lit.
Read the guide
GuideRusty or smelly hot water
Brown hot water or a rotten-egg smell: how to tell whether it is the heater, the anode rod or the pipes.
Read the guide
GuideWater heater keeps tripping
Breaker or red reset button keeps tripping on an electric water heater: what each one means, the likely faults, and when to leave the power off.
Read the guide
GuideWater heater leaking
Find where the water is coming from, what it means, and whether the leak can be fixed or the tank has to be replaced.
Read the guide
GuideWater heater making noise
Popping, rumbling, sizzling, ticking and whistling: what each sound means and which ones need attention.
Read the guide
How to use these guides
How these guides are written
Each guide follows the same order a careful plumber would: the short answer, a table that matches what you are seeing to what it usually means, the checks that are safe for a homeowner, how a professional diagnoses it, and when a repair is no longer worth it.
Facts about codes, safety and efficiency link to official sources such as the U.S. Department of Energy, California law and the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. Where something depends on your specific heater, the guide says so rather than guessing.
If you only read one thing, read the safety notes: a gas smell, a hissing relief valve or water spreading quickly all mean stopping and calling rather than troubleshooting further.
New guides are added when the same question keeps coming up. If your problem is not covered, call and describe it; the answer may become the next guide.
Each guide also links to the service it usually leads to, so you can go straight from understanding the problem to arranging the fix.
All guides are reviewed and dated so you can see how current they are.
Rather talk it through?
Skip the reading and call
Describe what the heater is doing and a licensed plumber can tell you what it likely needs.