Why is My Water Heater Always Running?

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Why is my water heater always running?

The water heater is going to run long enough to get the water hot enough. You could add insulation to the unit so it does not lose heat and run so long.

It already has insulation around it.

I hope it does not have a water leak, causing mold to grow in the insulation while running extra to heat up the constant in-flowing water.

I also hope it is not that.

You could have a more conventional water leak from the drain valve, pressure relief valve or one of the joints.

I’d hate to think that’s normal.

Tanks full of hot water corrode and rust. If the anode inside it has already eroded, the metal in the tank rusts even faster.

I do not see a puddle of water on the floor.

If you have one of those overflow protection systems in place, you might not notice the slow flow of water draining into the garage or flashing red lights.

My overflow protection system is set to put out an alarm if it detects a water leak.

One, the alarm might be turned off by someone tired of the beeping. Two, it may have a dead battery and not beep while draining water away.

I do not think there’s a water leak. Why else could the hot water heater be running so much?

The thermostat could be broken, so it doesn’t realize that the water is hot enough so it keeps heating up.

That’s dangerous. It could overheat.

And it could shut down, cool off, turn back on and overheat again. Then it runs all the time except when the safeties are engaged.

That’s dangerous too.

If you’re lucky, it is simply running all the time because one element has died and the other works overtime to keep the water warm.

Until the second element dies. Then it is all cold.

If there’s so much sediment in the tank that it covers the lower tank thermometer, the unit could overheat the water because it does not realize it is to temp.

I do drain it periodically.

Or if the thermometer is on the outside of the tank to measure the temperature and the sensor has been pulled back from the unit, it will run all the time overheating it trying to heat to temp.

That’s worse for energy efficiency than not having insulation on it.

If the insulation got wet and expanded or was moved accidentally and moved the temperature sensor away from the tank, it runs all the time to try to get warm enough for the sensor to register, too.

That would be the opposite of energy savings, but putting the sensor back in place is cheaper than replacing electronics or fixing leaks.