What Your Insurance Company Wants You to Know About Your Water Heater

If you’ve watched television within the last month or two, you may have been fortunate enough to have seen the new Allstate Insurance Company commercial form their popular “Mayhem” series. These commercials are humorous and grab your attention, but also do a great job of bringing real life dangers and hazards to your attention. Whether you take action or steps to avoid the warnings is up to you, but Allstate does a great job of capturing your attention during these few seconds on your TV.

For instance, the exploding water heater commercial from their “Mayhem” series is a serious and potentially deadly hazard that could happen if you aren’t paying attention to the water heater in your home. Allstate does a great job of expressing the dangers of an airborne water heater, Check it out below:

This commercial hits a popular and serious issue that our Expert Plumbers face every day and that is the danger of aging, corroding, and failing water heaters. We are always helping customers who are experiencing problems with their water heater tanks, heating elements, and thermostats. Most of the issues aren’t as dramatic as the one in the commercial, but they could be if the water heater problems were ignored, and the temperature pressure relief valve wasn’t functioning properly.

Check out this pressure test on a standard 52 gallon water heater:

The Results: Allstate wasn’t kidding around when they introduced the danger of the water heater turned missile.

How Could Your Water Heater Become a Missile?

Your water heater should have a safety feature called a temperature and pressure relief valve which allows any excess pressure to be released should your water heater malfunction. The main reason for too much pressure in your water heater is that it is creating too much heat and turning the water into steam. This newly created steam will build-up the pressure inside your water heater until the temperature and pressure relief valve can’t take it any more. The valve will then open and release any extra pressure.

Faulty Temperature and Pressure Relief Valves: Your water heater could become a rocket as it did in the videos above when they temperature and pressure relief valve isn’t working properly and isn’t able to release excess pressure. The valve may be stuck due to buildup of mineral or calcium deposits from your water, or corrosion and damage to the valve. When the valve doesn’t vent, the pressure continues to build until the tank can’t take it anymore and BOOM! Your water heater has just become a dangerous projectile that won’t stop until all of it’s built-up energy is released.

Don’t wait, unless you want a new skylight in your home!: Your water heater may seem like a safe and inactive appliance because it has no visible moving parts, but it can be very dangerous if ignored. Have your Expert Plumber check your water heater temperature and pressure relief valve to ensure it is functioning properly and that it is able to release any excess pressure if need be.

Have a water heater issue? Call Pronto Plumbing TODAY! 717-470-8201 We answer the phone 24/7 and can have a expert plumber at your door PRONTO!

Did you see either the commercial or the episode of MythBusters that we featured in this story? Let us know what you think!

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