Tips to Help Prevent Water Damage

Kielan Stewart | Fast Water Heater | RHAWA Vendor Member

Water heaters seem to al­ways go out at the most inopportune of times, and a water damage claim can be quite expensive, so we have provided a few tips to help prevent water damage and avoid claims in the first place.

One of the most important features to look for in wa­ter heaters is that they are self-clean­ing. Self-cleaning water heaters are designed to reduce the build-up of sediment in the tank, which leads to cracks and leaks over time. Water heat­ers which aren’t self-cleaning require regular annual flushes to maintain their life and operating efficiency.

Another simple step to prevent water damage is to set your water heater in a “drain pan” to collect leaking water, and to run a drain line from the pan into a drain or to the exterior of the res­idence. When properly installed, this allows leaking water to drain in a con­trolled fashion as opposed to leaking on the floor or furniture. Often a water heater is installed in a pan, but doesn’t have an existing drain line, making for a relatively simple preventative up­grade.

If your water heater is already sitting in a pan, one accessory option would be to install a water alarm. This is sim­ply an alarm which sits in the drain pan, and when the water heater leaks and the alarm gets wet, it makes a loud noise to get the attention of your resi­dent, and allowing them to shut off the water to the unit before hundreds of gallons spill. An even better op­tion would be to install an Emergency Water Shut-Off Valve. This device will not only detect a leak from your water heater, but then im­mediately shut the water off automatically. This means that even if your residents are away or on vacation, the water will be shut off as soon as the leak starts.

Finally, the biggest thing you can do to prevent water damage and leaks is to be proactive. Keep the temperature on your water heaters at a reasonable level. The hotter the water in the tank, the harder the water heater has to work, and the greater the pressure is inside the tank. Water at 120°F is hot enough for whole home use, but won’t put un­necessary strain on your water heater. And remember that even with prop­er care, the average water heater lasts somewhere from 8 to 12 years. Proac­tive replacement at 10 years of age pre­vents the vast majority of catastrophic leaks before they start, and is the most effective means of prevention.

Kielan Stewart is an Account Manager for the Property Management Division at Fast Water Heater. If you would like to know more about preventative mea­sures you can take, or would like to talk to him about their specialty services for Property Managers, he can be reached at the office at (866) 554–2448 or by cellphone at (206) 473–8730.

For more information about RHAWA please visit: RHAWA.org