Water Heater Repair in Laurel, MS
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What power outages mean for a water heater in Jones County
Nearly a third of Mississippi households went at least a day without power in 2024, and Jones County has logged 160 damaging wind events over the past ten years. A gas water heater with a standing pilot keeps running through an outage like that. One with electronic ignition needs power to light the burner, so the water goes cold until power is back and the unit relights itself or gets relit.
Winter storms are rare here, just two in ten years, so ice and snow are not the usual threat. Wind is. When it takes the power out, that is what stops your water heater, not the cold outside.
- 39°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 5 months
- November through March, the months homes here need heat
- 30%
- of Mississippi households lost power for a day or more in 2024, and a heater with an electric element or electric ignition stops without it
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new water heater would cut about $260 a year off hot water for a typical Mississippi home.
Estimates for a typical Mississippi home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and Mississippi fuel prices. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when an element, thermostat or gas valve has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the tank itself is leaking.
- Why is my water heater leaking from the bottom?
- Most of the time this means the tank itself has rusted through from the inside and is starting to fail. Water heaters don't leak from the bottom for small reasons. It's usually the tank liner giving out after years of sediment sitting at the base, or a fitting or drain valve that's failed and just looks like it's coming from the tank. Once the tank itself is leaking, it needs to be replaced, not repaired. A leaking drain valve or loose fitting, on the other hand, can often be fixed. A contractor can tell you which one you're dealing with by looking at where the water is actually coming from.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit is almost always the thermocouple. That's the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to keep the gas flowing. When it wears out or gets coated in soot, it can't hold that signal and the gas valve shuts the pilot back off. It's a cheap part to replace and usually solves the problem. If the pilot relights fine but goes out again within seconds or minutes, that points straight to the thermocouple. If it won't even light at all, the issue could be the gas supply or the pilot assembly itself, and that's worth having a contractor look at.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most tankless water heater problems are repairable. The heat exchanger, the igniter, the flow sensor, and the venting are the parts that most often need service, and a contractor can replace any of them without swapping out the whole unit. Mineral buildup inside the heat exchanger is a common cause of reduced hot water flow or error codes, and that can usually be flushed out rather than replaced. It's only when the heat exchanger itself has cracked or corroded through that replacement of the unit becomes the better option.