Gas water heater not working correctly, and I know nothing about gas heaters - help please!?

Question

I have a gas water heater in the apartment that I rent. Over the past few months, it seems that getting hot/warm water is a crapshoot. Some mornings it is fine and warm, and other mornings (same time) it is cold. I thought that maybe the tank goes through heating/cooling cycles.

However, I was trying to wash dishes and clean up earlier, and I had absolutely no hot water. I thought that if I ran the tank out of water, it would heat up the next batch. Long story short, I ran the shower and faucets for 20 minutes and heard no noises and still have no hot water.

So I went to look at the temp. valve. I've had it set to the hottest setting (which never gives me water that is too hot). On the dial, it goes from "Cool" to "Hot", and then after "Hot" there are numbers 1-5. I turned it to 1 (right after "Hot), and all of the sudden I smelled gas and a big blue flame appeared under the tank. I was scared of the gas smell and turned it back to a lower setting.

Any ideas of what is going on?

Answer 1

You might want to turn the unit off. It is not functioning properly. Have your gas company come check for carbon monoxide. This is very hazardous and can kill if the level gets too high. You cannot smell or taste it. It causes headaches and will put you in a very deep sleep and will displace your oxygen, therefore not good!

If you had not said it came on I would say the pilot light was out. And you could just relight it. Just turn the gas valve off til repairs can be made.

Do not go to sleep with it on.

Answer 2

Why not notify the manager about this? If you have and a maintenance person has come out, usually they are dim witted and hardly know anything about maintenance.  If they dont do anything about it, you need to contact your local housing authority.  The blue flame is normal, thats what heats your water.  The gas you smelt may be the inital smell of the gas coming through the burner, if you still smell gas after a minute then turn it off and get someone to look at it as the could be a serious problem.

Answer 3

Here is a couple of things to check:

If your gas water isn't heating water, check the pilot light.

If you can't get the pilot light lit, the thermocouple may be warn out.

Answer 4

Sounds like to me the gas valve is bad. Call the landlord to have fixed or if water htr is too old they should replace it.

Answer 5

what you need to do is call your landlord. they will get you a new heater

Answer 6

the water tank never runs out of water.. the cold water pipe is attached to the tank. fills it up and then heats it.. when you open a hot water valve, water from the tank flows.. from the pressure of the cold water flowing into the tank.. so its always full.. the blue flame you saw is normal.. that means that the fire went on to heat the water to a higher temperature.. so long as there is a pilot flame.. then you don't have to worry.. turn up the heat on the k**b you tried and see that the flame goes on..  don't put your face too close in-case of flame roll out..  just wait a few seconds.. once the flame is on then it wont roll out..  roll out can occur in the initial flame up.... anyway.. you might smell Little gas at first but once the fire is on then its burning the gas.  thetas normal..   so when you turned it to hot and you smelled gas.. then a big blue flame appeared.. thats perfect.. thats what you want.. .