Water Heater Repair and Replacement in Lithia, FL

What the water does inside a heater

Much of Florida's water comes from limestone, and it carries dissolved minerals, mainly calcium and magnesium. How much varies a great deal between utility water and private wells, and from one well to the next. At room temperature, the minerals stay dissolved. Heat them inside a water heater and some come out of solution.

On an electric heater, they crust onto the heating elements as scale, which makes the elements run hotter and fail sooner. In the tank, they settle as sediment on the bottom, taking up space meant for hot water and eventually burying the lower element. Water trapped under the sediment boils through it as the heater runs, which is the popping and rumbling many owners notice around a heater's tenth year. In a tankless unit, the same minerals line the heat exchanger and slowly restrict flow.

Wells add their own load. Sand, silt and iron from a well settle in a tank faster than utility water, sulfur can give the hot water a rotten-egg smell, and hardness can be higher. None of this is sudden, but it is the quiet reason heaters on well water often need elements and flushing sooner. A water softener reduces the scale-forming minerals, though softened water tends to use up the anode rod faster, so the anode still needs checking.

Water heater repair and replacement in Lithia

For most of its history, Lithia was farmland and rural homesteads southeast of Brandon. That changed in the late 1990s, when Newland Communities began developing FishHawk Ranch on more than 3,000 acres, and other planned neighborhoods followed. Today the 33547 ZIP code is home to about 19,800 people.

Census figures show how recent that growth is: about 58% of homes were built in the 2000s alone, and roughly 63% date from 2000 or later. Around 12% are from the 1990s, and about 18% from the 1970s and 1980s, mostly older rural houses on larger lots, some of them on their third or fourth heater. Almost all are single-family homes with attached garages, and nearly every heater is electric, sitting in the garage.

That makes Lithia a textbook case of builder heaters coming due together. Homes finished in the early and mid-2000s are now well past a typical tank lifespan if they still have their original heater, and neighbors in the same village often replace theirs within a season or two of each other. Builders tend to choose the smallest heater that meets a home's needs on paper, so a household that has grown since moving in may also want a larger size, or a heat pump unit, when the time comes.

Many of the planned villages are gated or have an association with its own arrangements for contractor visits, so it helps to have the gate details ready when you call. Garages here are warm and humid for most of the year, hard on connectors and valves but well suited to a heat pump water heater at replacement.

The water depends on the address. The planned communities are on Hillsborough County's utility, whose supply comes from the regional wholesaler Tampa Bay Water. Out on the rural roads, many homes still rely on private wells. Very few homes here are held for seasonal use, only about 1.5% by Census count, so heaters work year-round.

Our Lithia coverage runs through ZIP code 33547.

Flushing: early helps most

Flushing runs water through the tank and out of the drain valve to carry loose sediment away. Started early in a heater's life and repeated, it keeps the lower element clear, preserves the tank's capacity and keeps the drain valve working. On a heater that has gone fifteen years without it, the sediment may have hardened into a crust that water won't shift, and flushing achieves less. What comes out also tells the technician a lot about the tank's condition. Because it means isolating the heater and handling very hot water under pressure, flushing is a technician's job, and it pairs well with an anode check on the same visit. On a well, flushing may be worth doing more often, and a serviced whole-house sediment filter reduces how much reaches the tank in the first place. Read more at flushing and maintenance.

Relief valves that drip in newer homes

Many newer homes have a check valve or backflow device on the incoming water line. When a heater warms the water, it expands, and in a closed system like that it has nowhere to go, so pressure rises with every heating cycle. The sign is a relief valve that drips during or just after heating. An expansion tank on the cold supply, a small tank with an air cushion inside, absorbs the extra volume and keeps pressure steady. It is often fitted during a replacement, and its air charge is set to match the home's water pressure. Over time the air charge can fade, so an older expansion tank is worth checking when a relief valve starts dripping again. Never cap or plug the relief valve; it's doing its job. Learn more about expansion tank installation.

If your home has solar water heating

Some Florida homes have solar collectors on the roof that heat water into a storage tank, with an electric element or a conventional heater as backup. When hot water fails in a home like that, the fault may be in the ordinary electric part or in the solar side, such as a pump, controller or sensor. A technician familiar with solar systems can tell which, and whether the solar side is still worth keeping. Older systems may have parts that are hard to find, so it's worth weighing a repair against replacing the storage tank with a conventional heater. See solar water heater service.

Common electric faults

If the water never warms, the upper element, thermostat or high-limit cutoff is the likely culprit. Hot water that runs out fast usually means the lower element, often buried in sediment on well water. Lukewarm water can mean a thermostat set low or a broken dip tube, and water far hotter than usual means a thermostat stuck on. A breaker that trips points to a shorted element and should be reported rather than reset. With live wiring behind every cover, the safe move is to describe the symptom and let a pro test it. Details are in electric water heater repair.

Water heater services in Lithia

• Flushing and Maintenance
• Expansion Tank Installation
• Rotten-Egg Smell in Hot Water
• Water Heater Sizing Guide
• Electric Water Heater Repair

Nearby communities

We also cover Valrico, Riverview, Brandon and the rest of Tampa Bay.

• Valrico
• Riverview
• Brandon
• Dover
• Plant City

Lithia water heater questions

In Lithia, can we go up a size when we replace our heater?

In most Lithia garages, yes. The installer checks the floor space, the ceiling height and the electrical circuit, since a bigger electric tank can need a heavier circuit and a heat pump model stands taller and needs a condensate drain. Changing size is simplest at replacement, while everything is disconnected.

For a Lithia home, why does the relief valve drip right after the heater runs?

Usually because the home's plumbing is a closed system, so heated water can't expand back into the supply and pressure rises each cycle. An expansion tank on the cold line usually cures it. Never cap the valve; have a technician check the pressure and the valve itself.

Our FishHawk home still has its builder heater. Should we replace it now?

If the home dates from the 2000s and the heater is original, it's past a typical lifespan, and builder heaters from the same years tend to fail around the same time. Look for rust, moisture at the base or rumbling, and check the label date. A planned swap avoids an emergency one.

Both hot and cold water smell at our rural Lithia home. Is it the heater?

Probably not on its own. When both sides smell, the gas is already in the well water before it reaches the heater, which makes it a well-treatment question. A technician can still check whether the anode rod is making the hot side worse.

For a Lithia home, why is our hot water cloudy?

Often it's tiny air bubbles, which clear from the bottom of a glass upward within a minute. If it settles as grit instead, it may be sediment from the tank or, on a well, from the supply. A technician can flush the tank and check the dip tube if particles keep appearing.

How does our well affect the water heater?

Well water can bring sulfur that causes a rotten-egg smell, sand and silt that build sediment quickly, iron that discolors water and hardness that forms scale. Pressure swings from the well pump can also affect the relief valve. A technician can set the heater up to cope with your water.

Do you cover rural Lithia as well as FishHawk Ranch?

Yes. We cover the whole 33547 ZIP code, from FishHawk Ranch and the other planned communities to the older homes and acreage on the rural roads. Tell us your address and any gate arrangements when you phone, and we'll pass the job to a local pro.

Is a heat pump water heater a good fit for a Lithia garage?

For most homes here, yes. Attached garages are warm for most of the year, which suits heat pump units, and they use far less electricity than a standard electric tank. The installer checks space, condensate drainage and the circuit before recommending one.