Found a mistake, or have a question about something we published? Email us at contact@waterheaterhandbook.com.
If you smell gas, don’t email us. Leave the building now without switching lights or appliances on or off, and call 911 or your gas utility from outside, well away from the smell. If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds or anyone has headache, dizziness, nausea or confusion near a fuel-burning appliance, get everyone into fresh air and call 911. For a gas smell, the federal pipeline safety agency says to leave the area and call 911 from a neighbor’s house or another place well away (PHMSA), and the makers’ lighting labels say to call the gas supplier from a neighbor’s phone. For carbon monoxide, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the CDC (carbon monoxide basics) say to get to fresh air and call 911. All read 9 November 2026. Email is slow, and we can’t send anyone.
General information, not professional advice. Gas, 240-volt power, scalding water and a pressurised tank can hurt you. Follow the label and manual on your own heater; where they say to stop and call a qualified technician, stop. Codes and licensing rules are set locally.
We can’t diagnose your heater
We are not a plumber, a gas fitter, an electrician or a water heater maker, and we have not seen your heater. We can’t answer questions about an individual heater. That means we can’t say why yours is leaking, making noise or not heating, whether a part has failed, whether it should be repaired or replaced, whether a repair is within your skills, whether an installation meets your local code, or how old a heater is beyond what our age lookup shows. We can’t recommend a plumber, a gas fitter, an electrician, an installer, a retailer, a brand or a model, and we don’t refer anyone to one.
For your own heater, start with the label on the heater and its manual. Makers publish their manuals on their own websites, found by the model number on the rating plate, and their customer service lines are printed in the manual. A licensed plumber or gas fitter can look at the heater itself. Your local building department can tell you whether a job needs a permit or a licensed tradesperson where you live. For gas leaks and odors, your gas utility is the one to call, from outside.
Reporting an error
Please include the address of the page, the step, figure, rule or sentence you think is wrong, and a link to the source for the right information if you have one: the maker’s manual with its part number and date, the federal rule, or the code section and edition. We check every report against the source. Makers revise their manuals and federal rules change, so a report that a source has a newer edition is especially welcome. Our corrections page explains what happens next.
Makers, retailers, contractors and advertisers
We don’t sell sponsored posts, links, reviews, rankings, listings or placements, and we don’t take affiliate deals, sell leads or make referrals. If you publish a manual, a label, a serial number format or a rule we cite, or a fact on our page about your product line is wrong, send the source and we will check it like any other report.
What not to send
Please don’t send photos of your heater or your home, serial numbers, addresses, account numbers or other personal details, yours or anyone else’s. We don’t need them to check a page, and we won’t use them to diagnose a heater. Our privacy policy explains how we handle what you send us.