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Plumbing problems don't wait - neither do we!
Plumbing problems don't wait - neither do we!
Most people don’t even know they have an expansion tank until it stops working. It’s that smaller tank sitting next to your water heater, and it’s there for a really good reason. When water heats up, it expands. That expansion has to go somewhere, or the pressure in your pipes builds up to dangerous levels.
Without a working expansion tank, you’re looking at problems. Leaking relief valves on your water heater. Pipes that develop leaks at the joints. Faucets that drip constantly. Your water heater might not last as long as it should either because it’s dealing with too much pressure all the time.
In a closed plumbing system, heated water has nowhere to go. An expansion tank absorbs that excess volume and relieves pressure so your plumbing stays protected.
The tank has a bladder inside that holds air. When water expands, it pushes against that bladder and the air compresses to absorb the extra pressure. But after years of heating and cooling cycles, that bladder wears out. When it fails, water fills the whole tank and it can’t do its job anymore.
You can check it yourself by tapping on the tank. If it sounds hollow near the top, the bladder’s probably fine. If it sounds heavy and full all the way up, the bladder’s shot and you need a new tank.
We replace these pretty often during water heater installs or when we’re troubleshooting pressure problems. The old tank comes off, the new one goes on, and we set the air pressure to match your home’s water pressure. It takes about an hour.
Some older homes around Holmen don’t have expansion tanks at all because code didn’t require them years ago. If you’ve got an older house and you’re replacing your water heater, we’ll add one. It’s cheap insurance against bigger problems down the road.