Why is My Water Heater Making a Strange Popping Noise?

If you have a small amount of sediment in your water heater, you probably won't notice it. As the sediment builds up over time, this can cause problems with your water heater overheating.

Too much sediment in your water heater can make your water heater overheat. Sediment builds up, making it difficult for your water heater to heat up the water. When this occurs, your water heating will start to overheat.

As the water heater overheats, the lining of the water heater tank can become damaged. This weakens the steel tank, and will eventually cause your water heater to leak.

If your water heater is electric, too much sediment in the tank can make the heating element burn out.

Too much sediment will decrease the efficiency of your water heater, and raise your heating bills. There's not as much room in your tank for water when there is a lot of sediment, and you won't have as much hot water ready to go.

If your water heater is making a popping noise when it turns on, you might just need to have your water heater flushed.

Sediment builds up when you have water that has plenty of minerals, and these minerals turn into sediment that settles into the bottom of your tank.

Flushing out your water heater will clean out the water heater, and remove the sediment that is causing the popping noise. Hard water contains minerals such as calcium carbonate and magnesium, and this is what turns into sediment.



If you are trying to keep sediment out of your water heater, softening the water will help to reduce the amount of minerals in your water.

You can try to flush your water heater on your own, by turning a gas heater to pilot, or an electric water heater circuit breaker off.

Make sure the water is turned off to your tank and wait about a half an hour to let the water cool. Use a garden hose, and attach it to the bottom of the drain valve down low on your tank.

Once the hose is set to a basement drain, go to the top of the tank and turn the pressure relief valve.

Allow your water to drain out completely and wash out any sediment that is leftover using cold water. Once you see that the water is clear, you can close the drain valve and fill the tank back up.



If you are not sure how to deal with your water heating making a popping noise, give us a call to handle the problem for you.