Waterheater

don_185

I install a new bradford white electric water heater today
and when powering up it had a high pitch noise.Why?

Called the tech rep at bradford white and he said it from hard water.Says to install a water softner.I'm like what this is on city water.

Any way I'm going back to change elements with some sandhog elements to see if they might fix the problem.

Never ran into this before.Any suggestion?

Larry Weingarten

elements

Hello: I think you're on the right track, replacing elements with the low watt density type. It doesn't make sense to me that hard water would have such an immediate effect on a new heater. If it started making noise right away, I'd replace only the upper element, as that would be the one to operate first. Noise I've dealt with in electric heaters usually came from hard scale buildup on elements. This sounds more like a manufacturing problem, possibly a small water leak in the element's sheath. Do let us know what you find!

Yours, Larry

don_192

Will do

Thanks and I'm glad you reply to the thread...I was thinking that maybe I'd come across something no one here at that wall has seen before.

And to think I thought these guys has seen it all.

[Deleted User]

I heard that condition once...

On my mountain property. Burnt out an element with a house full. Found a "spare" element next to the water heater. Put it in, turned it on, and it sang like Mama Cass. Pressure was ZERO PSI. Turned the water pressure back on, and noise subsided, but was still there. Then I looked at the packaging for the element. It was rated for 120 volts, and I had it in an 240 volt setting. DOH!! It lasted through the weekend and I replaced it the next weekend before the guest rush. I was amazed that it didn't POP a soon as I put power to it. I kept it for a spare...

ME

Paul LeGron

Water Heater

I had installed a Bradford White electric and had a noise when water was running out of water heater to a fixture and I found by removing the ball check on the outlet side corrected the problem.

Paul

Dustin Bowerman

water heater noise

Don, did the element change take care of the noise? Water quality will play a part in the element making a sound. I like to describe the element like a tuning fork, kind of vibrates. The more solids you have in water, the more potential you have for noise. In some cases, you may be able to turn the element slightly to "re direct" the ringing sounds. As others have suggested, a low watt density element does also help. It spreads the heat over a larger area. Let us all know the outcome!