How To Tell If You Have Water In Your Gas

how to tell if water heater is gas or electric

Did you not buy your water heater yourself or supervise its installation? And, you are wondering how to tell if water heater is gas or electrical? People moving into homes or RVs with existing water heaters might also want to know if their water heater runs on electricity or gas.

Differentiating between a gas and electrical water heater is a cinch. I volition share some steps to ensure you know if your water heater is gas or electric.

Table of Contents

Things Y'all Need for This Guide
Steps to Tell if a Water Heater Is Electrical of Gas
- Pace ane. Open up the hot h2o tank's access panel and look for the airplane pilot light with a blueish flame.
- Stride 2. Look for a power string plugged into a nearby outlet.
- Pace 3. Check the top of the water heater for a structure resembling a vent.
- Stride 4. Open the house's electrical console and look for a circuit breaker labeled 'water heater.'
- Step 5. Bank check the tank's bottom for a copper or black pipe.
Determination

Things You Need for This Guide

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I too presume you no longer accept the owner's manual or user guide. Otherwise, there is no bespeak in going farther into this commodity considering the information you need is already in the guide.

On second idea, information technology would be overnice to check your water heater's brand, model, and series number. You can apply these pieces of information to search online. Water heater manufacturers provide downloadable user guides in PDF formats for their customers.

Differentiating an electric water heater from a gas h2o heater does not require whatever tool, except for a screwdriver for loosening the h2o heater'southward admission panel. The access panel secures a chamber containing the gas h2o heater's airplane pilot light.

Steps to Tell if a Water Heater Is Electric of Gas

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Step 1. Open the hot water tank'south access panel and look for the pilot light with a blue flame.

Look at your water heater and check the access panel near the tank's bottom. Some h2o heaters have a small viewing window you tin can look through to check for a pilot light. It would be best to remove the fasteners of the water heater's admission console if it does non have a viewing window.

Remove the access console and check the sleeping room for a bluish flame-lit pilot lite. The pilot calorie-free is nearly like to the igniter in your conventional gas stove. Information technology emits a consistent and intense blue flame, keeping the gas burner operating.

If you see a pilot low-cal, you know you have a gas-powered water heater. After all, only pilot light-integrated water heaters employ gas.

Eaglewood Homes has an exciting video about checking and lighting a water heater pilot low-cal.

Stride two. Look for a power cord plugged into a nearby outlet.

Yous might be request yourself, how does an electrical h2o heater expect like? You lot volition be surprised to acquire that it does non look very different from a gas-powered water heater, except it runs on electricity, not natural gas or methane gas.

Similar whatsoever device running on electricity, an electrical water heater will always have a ability string to draw power from the main electrical supply lines.

I recommend looking for a power string extending from either the height or the side of the water heater. You can try post-obit the cord to run into if it plugs into a nearby electric outlet. If there is a power cord, you tin can be certain you take an electric water heater.

Step 3. Check the top of the h2o heater for a construction resembling a vent.

Do you know how a gas water heater look like? Information technology might have the aforementioned blueprint as an electric h2o heater, simply gas-powered units take a vent or chimney for carrying exhaust gas into the outside environment.

We know gas water heaters utilise fuel combustion to operate the burners and heat the water. Unlike electricity, the thermal process releases potentially baneful chemicals into the air. That is why some homeowners prefer electric water heaters because of the gas fumes in gas-powered units.

Check the top of your water heater and look for a large-diameter pipe or duct leading upwards. Y'all can besides follow it as the vent exits through the wall. If you lot run across this structure, y'all know yous have a gas h2o heater.

Step four. Open up the house'southward electric panel and wait for a circuit breaker labeled 'water heater.'

Almost electric h2o heaters require hardwiring to the master electric supply line because they swallow about iv,000 watts per day. That is why installers ever set electric water heaters with a defended excursion billow.

It is always an excellent idea to check the electric panel to determine if your h2o heater is electric or gas. Look at each circuit breaker and notice the billow marked 'water heater.'

If you lot cannot discover such a label, you might want to plough off all circuit breakers in the panel. Adjacent, look at your water heater if it is turned off, likewise. If it is also off, y'all have an electric water heater. If it is still operating, y'all have a gas-powered unit.

You tin can also use this step to respond your question, how practise I know if my RV h2o heater is gas or electric? Your RV has an electric distribution console similar to the electric breaker box in your home.

Footstep 5. Check the tank's lesser for a copper or black piping.

Another foolproof fashion to answer the question, are water heaters gas or electric, is past looking for a copper or black pipe connecting to the hot water tank's bottom.

The blackness piping is about one-half an inch thick, while the copper tube is a quarter of an inch thick. You can only see either pipe in your h2o heater'south bottom, signifying the system's gas supply line.

Hence, if you encounter either pipes (black or copper), y'all know yous have a gas-powered water heater.

Conclusion

You now know how to tell if water heater is gas or electric. Gas water heaters have a airplane pilot light, an exhaust vent, and a black or copper gas pipe. On the other mitt, an electric water heater will have a power string or a defended excursion breaker at the electrical panel.

Can you assist your friends determine if their h2o heaters are gas or electrical, too? Yous tin can share this guide with them if you similar. If y'all take questions, feedback, or comments, I will gladly take them all.

As the founder of Usawaterquality, I accept been working to deliver quality advice on utilizing water components for numerous households. Here, we believe that h2o quality is the most critical part of wellness care, so the investment and attention for the water system will never go to waste material.