Especially during the winter months, a broken water heater can be a very, very bad thing. Fortunately, there are a few simple things that most homeowners can do for themselves to check in with their water heater to make sure it’s working properly before a catastrophic failure.
One of those things you can do is to test the temperature and pressure relief valve. Just a partial lift of the valve and then letting it snap back in place should trigger the sound of water gurgling. If you hear that sound, it’s working well. If you don’t hear anything, or if the valve doesn’t snap back, you’ll need to replace it.
Another thing you might do is to perform a mini flush of the tank. Put a bucket underneath the drain valve, and then turn it counter-clockwise to drain a few gallons, which will remove sediment and improve the efficiency of the heater.
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