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No Hot Water Langley | What to Check First

No hot water Langley? Check the pilot, breaker, reset button or tankless error code in ten minutes, and know when it needs a gas fitter. Open 24/7.

HOT WATER

Plumblink Crew

11/4/20265 min read

Plumber shining a flashlight into the pilot window of a gas hot water tank in a Langley basement

Cold shower at 6 a.m., and the tap never warms up no matter how long you run it. That's a different problem from running out of hot water halfway through a shower, which we cover in our guide to running out of hot water. When it never gets hot at all, the heater has stopped heating, and most of the usual causes you can check yourself in about ten minutes.

First: if you smell gas, stop here

If you smell rotten eggs near the water heater, don't relight anything, don't flip switches and don't use your phone beside the tank. Get everyone outside and call FortisBC or 911 from there. Our guide to what to do if you smell gas covers the rest. Everything below assumes there's no gas smell.

Is it the whole house, or one tap?

Run the hot side at the kitchen sink and in a bathroom. If one fixture is cold and the rest are fine, the water heater is working and the problem is at that fixture, usually a worn shower valve cartridge. That's a kitchen and bathroom plumbing repair, not a water heater call.

If nothing in the house runs hot, keep going. And if the cold side is weak or dead too during a cold snap, you may be looking at a frozen line rather than a heater problem. Our frozen pipes guide covers that one.

Gas tank: check the pilot

Most gas tanks in Langley homes have a small pilot flame that lights the main burner. If the pilot goes out, a safety device called the thermocouple cools down and the gas valve shuts the burner off.

Look through the small window near the bottom of the tank. No flame means the pilot is out.

Relighting is a normal homeowner job. Follow the label on your tank, not a video filmed for a different model. Most have you turn the control to off and wait several minutes first.

If it lights but dies the moment you let go of the pilot knob, the thermocouple is the usual suspect.

If it relights and goes out again within a day or two, something keeps putting it out: a draft, a dirty pilot, a weak thermocouple, or the flammable vapour sensor on newer tanks. That sensor shuts the burner down if it picks up fumes from nearby paint, gas cans or solvents, and dust or lint can trip it too.

Replacing a thermocouple, gas valve or burner part is gas work. In BC that's a job for a licensed gas fitter, or for a homeowner under a Technical Safety BC homeowner permit, which is only available for a fully detached house you own and live in. Strata units, duplexes and homes run as a business don't qualify. More on that in plumber vs. gas fitter.

Gas tank with a fan on top: check the power

If your tank has a fan motor on top and a plastic vent pipe running out the side wall, it's a power-vent tank, and it needs electricity to fire. After a fall windstorm knocks the power out, a power-vent tank can sit there cold even after the lights come back on.

Check that it's plugged in and its outlet has power, then restart it using the steps on the label. If the fan runs but the burner won't light, or a status light is flashing a code, book a service call.

Electric tank: breaker first, then the reset button

Check your electrical panel. Water heaters run on a double breaker. If it's tripped, switch it fully off, then back on, once. If it trips again, leave it off and call us.

If the breaker is fine, the tank's high-limit switch has probably tripped. It's a red reset button behind the upper access panel on the side of the tank. Turn the breaker off before you take the panel off, because there's 240 volts behind it. Push the button until it clicks, put the panel back, turn the breaker on and give the tank an hour or two to heat.

A reset that trips once can be a fluke. One that keeps tripping means a thermostat, element or wiring fault is letting the water overheat, and pressing the button again isn't a fix.

Tankless: power, error code and the condensate line

A tankless water heater needs power even when it burns gas, so a tripped breaker or a power outage leaves you cold. Most units show an error code on the display or the indoor controller. Write it down before you reset anything, so whoever comes out knows where to start.

In a cold snap, high-efficiency units have one more weak spot: the small condensate drain line. If it freezes, the unit shuts itself down. Units on exterior walls or in unheated garages are most at risk. Leave a tankless unit powered in winter, since its built-in freeze protection runs on electricity, and if it did freeze, have it checked before you run it hard. Ice can crack the heat exchanger.

Is no hot water an emergency?

A leaking tank is. If there's water on the floor around the tank, shut the cold water valve on top of it and call us right away. Our guide to water in your basement covers limiting the damage while you wait.

Cold water alone is miserable, but usually not an emergency, so think about timing. We're open 24 hours, and our after-hours rate applies after 5 p.m., before 7 a.m., on weekends and on statutory holidays. A weekday morning call costs less than a Sunday night one, and you get the same Red Seal plumber either way. If you've got a newborn, an elderly parent or anyone who can't go without hot water, call whenever you need to. That's what our emergency plumbing line is for.

Repair or replace?

Pilot assemblies, thermocouples, elements, thermostats and igniters can all be replaced, and on a younger tank, repair usually makes sense. On a tank past ten years old, with rust at the base or a run of problems, we'll tell you straight whether that repair money is better spent on a new one. Our hot water tank lifespan guide covers the warning signs. If you're replacing anyway, it's worth deciding whether tankless fits your house before the new tank goes in.

Talk to a Red Seal plumber in Langley

Plumblink is a Red Seal plumbing and licensed gas fitting company based in Langley, so one visit covers both the water side and the gas side of your water heater. We charge a straightforward first-hour rate, no surprise fees. Planning a tank replacement instead? Request a quote.

Call 236-233-9696 or get in touch.