What is the Average Time in Service for a Water Heater?

4/21/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO Can Remove the Water from Your Ridgefield Home Quickly

Statistics released by the Insurance Institute of Business and Home Safety show that water heater failures account for nearly twenty-percent of water loss events in properties. The failure rate is 10% percent at ten years of service and jumps to 90% after sixteen years in service. Tank units average 35 to 55 gallons, imagine that much water on your floor in Ridgefield.

What Should I Do First After Water Damage from a Water Heater?

• Your first phone call should be to begin the water damage cleanup in your Ridgefield home. The removal of small items in the loss area can assist in lessening the damage, particularly to carpeted rooms. 
• Newspaper and magazines can bleed onto the carpet
• The varnish used on wood furnishings can permanently stain rugs and carpet
• Items such as floor pillows and decorative baskets need removal to another area of the home

Common Areas Affected By Water Tank Failures

The majority of water heaters create water disaster problems with one either a slow leak or a sudden burst as the most typical ways they go out of service. While a sudden burst leaves copious amounts of water behind, a slow leak can do an equal amount of damage that often does not get noticed for an extended period. This often creates an ideal area for mold growth, which has the potential to spread throughout the property. 

Steps for Mitigation in the Home

There are many applications that SERVPRO techs combine to bring well-rounded mitigation to a home after a water tank failure. The extraction of the water should begin within 24 hours of the initial event for the best outcome. 

Upon arrival at the Ridgefield property, the technicians scope the property to determine the migration path of the water. This assists with complete extraction when the techs deploy their advanced equipment. Different types of surfaces need various types of water removal methods. Portable pumps with weighted extraction heads make short work of pulling water out of both carpet and padding, putting the odds in the property owner's favor that they can save the cost of replacement through the restoration methods. 

A laminate tile floor runs the most significant risk of seepage into the subfloor after carpet. Signs of water migration under flooring include:

• Water reappearing on the tile after wiping away
• Dripping through the ceiling in lower levels
• Buckling of sheetrock without water being visible
• Blistering or bubbling of paint on walls or ceilings
• Delamination of tile or glue-down flooring

Drying Equipment Makes the Difference in the Outcome

DIY methods of using household fans on carpet or wet tile flooring work, at best, to dry the top surface. It does nothing to address the moisture further down within the fibers or flooring. SERVPRO techs use the science of psychrometry to pull embedded moisture out of substrates using the high-velocity air movers. As the fast-moving air flows over surfaces, it causes embedded water vapor to rise, and the nearby dehumidifiers capture it. This creates a cycle of progressively drier air and lowers the interior humidity for complete drying. 

Carpets have the potential to get dried in place using applications such as floating where one side of the carpet gets loosened and air directed underneath. Tenting is another common application when only a section requires drying. The techs place plastic over the wet area and force air directly into that space alone. This quickly reduces the moisture and dries the carpet in place. 

Specific Challenges When a Water Tank Leaks

Two elements play a vital role in the outcome of a water loss event involving a water heater. The first is the location of the water heater in the home. The second is the speed at which cleanup efforts began. When the water heater has a placement in a utility closet or upper level of a home, the potential for water to seep into the floor and penetrate the floor joists into lower levels is a big concern. When a 55-gallon tank bursts, water runs rapidly behind baseboards, wicks into sheetrock, and pushes into every available opening. A slow leak does not affect the flooring as much, but tremendous damage can occur to walls and ceilings. 

When the basement is the location for the tank in your Ridgefield home, if the drainage or sump pump is in working order, the damage may be lessened. SERVPRO technicians have the equipment to extract the water and dry the concrete and masonry along with specially formulated cleaning agents.

When a water damage event happens in your home, call SERVPRO of Danbury / Ridgefield at (203) 791-0920. The certified techs stand ready to come to your property 24/7 and return it to its preloss condition.