Service guideSuffolk County · day or night
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A leaking water heater rarely stops leaking. We connect you with a local specialist before a slow drip becomes a tank failure.
Call now ifOtherwise it can usually wait for a scheduled visit
A tank that has started to weep is usually corroding from the inside, and the failure mode is not a bigger drip — it is the tank letting go and releasing its entire volume, typically 40 to 80 gallons, at once.
When you call, we connect you with a local specialist who will isolate the heater and extract and dry what the leak reached. Whether the tank itself has gone or it is a fitting decides repair against replacement — that is plumbing work, and separate from the water already down.
So you know what you are agreeing to, and can tell a thorough quote from a cheap one.
ENERGY STAR's advice is that if your water heater is more than 10 years old, it is time to consider replacing it before a leak makes the decision for you. The age is on the tank's label: either a manufacture date, or a serial number that encodes it.
Source: ENERGY STAR: when should you replace your water heater?. A summary of published guidance, not a substitute for an on-site inspection.
The usual split: the water damage caused by a sudden discharge is generally covered, while the failed water heater itself generally is not. A leak that has been developing slowly is often excluded as gradual damage, which is a practical reason not to leave a small drip.
General guidance, not advice on your policy — coverage varies by insurer and endorsement, and the wording is what decides it. Read yours, or ask your agent, before you need to.
Worth doing whether or not you call us.
Close the cold-water supply valve on the pipe going into the top of the tank. For a gas heater, turn the gas control to off; for an electric one, switch off its breaker. If you smell gas, leave the house and call the gas utility from outside instead.
You can, with a hose on the drain valve at the bottom, but the water can be scalding, and an old valve may not close again once opened. If the tank itself is leaking, draining it only stops more water reaching the floor; the heater still needs replacing.
Check two things first: the drain valve near the base, which can drip and can be tightened or capped, and the relief valve's discharge pipe, which ends near the floor. If the water is coming from under the tank itself, the tank has corroded through. That cannot be repaired, and a small leak can become a full release. Shut off the water to it, and the power or gas.
Usually less serious than a leak at the bottom. The cold inlet and hot outlet connections on top can loosen or corrode, and so can the relief valve fitting, and those can be repaired. Shut the cold supply valve and dry the top to see where water reappears. Left alone, the water runs down inside the jacket and rusts the tank.
A plumber replaces the heater. The water in the floor, the walls and anything below is a drying job for a water damage specialist. A household tank typically holds 40 to 80 gallons, and the supply keeps refilling it until the valve is shut, so the amount is often more than it looks. On a finished floor or above a ceiling, get the drying started the same day.
This kind of damage behaves much the same way across Suffolk County, so there is no measured local difference for us to publish and we are not going to invent one. We cover all 155 areas in Suffolk County for it. Each area page carries the local water, sewer and housing data that does vary.
Tell us where you are. We connect you with a local specialist covering your part of Suffolk County who handles a leaking water heater.