Water Heater Repair in McAllen, TX
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McAllen doesn't ask much of your water heater, until the power goes out
Your water heater barely deals with cold here. Winter nights average 51°F, and the water coming into the tank never gets hard to warm. That's not what causes most of the trouble.
What causes trouble is the grid. Texas saw a third of households lose power for at least a day in 2024, and Hidalgo County has logged 90 damaging wind events over the past decade. A gas water heater with a standing pilot will keep working through an outage. One with electronic ignition won't relight on its own, and if yours has a heat pump or hybrid system, it needs power to run at all. When the lights come back, check that the tank actually reheated. If the water is still cold, the ignition control or the power supply to it is worth a look.
- 51°F
- the average winter night, and colder incoming water means longer heating
- 2 months
- December through January, the months homes here need heat
- 33%
- of Texas households lost power for a day or more in 2024, and a heater with an electric element or electric ignition stops without it
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new water heater would cut about $290 a year off hot water for a typical Texas home.
Estimates for a typical Texas home, compared with an older unit built to the federal minimum, from EIA household energy data and Texas fuel prices. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when an element, thermostat or gas valve has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the tank itself is leaking.
- Why is my water heater leaking from the bottom?
- Most of the time this means the tank itself has failed. Water heaters are steel with a glass lining inside, and once that lining cracks the tank rusts through from the inside out. That kind of leak will not seal or patch. A puddle at the bottom can also come from a loose drain valve or a fitting that has worked itself loose, so it is worth checking those first, but if the tank itself is wet, it needs to be replaced.
- Why won't the pilot light on my water heater stay lit?
- Usually the thermocouple has worn out. That's the small part that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve the flame is lit. Once it fails, the valve shuts the gas off as a safety measure even though you just relit it. A weak pilot flame or a draft blowing on it can cause the same problem, so a contractor will check both before replacing anything.
- Can a tankless water heater be repaired?
- Yes, most tankless problems come down to a part that can be replaced rather than the whole unit. The igniter, the flow sensor and the heat exchanger are the parts that fail most often, and a contractor can test which one is causing the trouble. Mineral buildup in the heat exchanger is common too, especially if the unit has never been flushed, and that can often be cleared without replacing anything.