You use the water heater in your Central Indiana home every day, whether you’re washing clothes, showering, or doing dishes. It likely runs more than your heating, cooling, or any other system. A reliable water heater is essential for your comfort.

Water Heater Maintenance. Are you running out of hot water? Don’t wait until it’s a cold shower emergency!

Blue Fox Heating, Cooling, & Plumbing offers expert water heater maintenance services throughout Central Indiana. Call us at 765-252-0051 for a free plumbing quote.

What’s Included in Water Heater Maintenance?

A comprehensive tankless or tank water heater inspection is key to ensuring your unit functions correctly and efficiently. Here’s what you can expect during a professional inspection from Blue Fox Heating, Cooling, & Plumbing:

Visual Inspection: Our licensed plumbers will perform a thorough visual inspection for leaks, damage, or corrosion. This includes checking the tank, pipes, and connections.
Pressure Relief Valve Testing: A critical safety component, the pressure relief valve prevents dangerous pressure buildup. Our licensed Indiana technicians will thoroughly test this valve to guarantee its proper operation and safety.
Sediment Flushing: Sediment buildup can significantly reduce efficiency and cause damage. Our plumbers will flush the tank to remove any accumulated sediment.
Anode Rod Inspection: The anode rod helps prevent tank corrosion. Our licensed plumbers will inspect this rod and replace it if necessary.
Heating Element Check: Our plumbers will test the heating elements of electric water heaters to ensure they are working correctly.
Gas Line and Venting System Check: For gas water heaters, our plumbers will inspect the gas line and venting system to ensure there are no leaks or blockages.

Common Signs You Need Water Heater Service

Recognizing the early signs that your water heater needs service can help you avoid more significant issues and costly repairs. Here are some common indicators that your water heater needs attention:

Inconsistent Water Temperature: Fluctuating water temperatures can indicate a problem with the thermostat or sediment buildup in the tank.
Strange Noises: Rumbling, popping, or banging sounds from your water heater are often caused by sediment buildup, which can reduce efficiency and damage the tank.
Leaking Water: Water pooling around your heater or visible rust on the tank suggests a leak, which may require immediate water heater repair or potentially water heater installation service.
Discolored or Foul-Smelling Water: Rusty or cloudy water, or water with a metallic smell, can indicate corrosion inside the tank or bacterial growth.
Reduced Hot Water Pressure: A drop in hot water pressure can be caused by sediment buildup or issues with the plumbing connections.

At Blue Fox, we provide 24/7 emergency plumbing services and convenient financing options to keep your home comfortable and safe year-round.

Call us at 765-252-0051 to schedule a water heater inspection today!

Simple Water Heater Tips (When in Doubt, Call a Pro!)

While some water heater maintenance tasks require professional attention, here are a few simple tasks you can do yourself to keep your system running smoothly.

However, DIY water heater work can be dangerous and may void your warranty. When in doubt, it’s always best to call a qualified technician like those at Blue Fox.

Check the Temperature Setting: Ensure your water heater’s thermostat is set to 120°F. This helps prevent scalding and reduces energy consumption.
Inspect for Leaks: Regularly check around the base of your water heater for any signs of water leakage. Catching leaks early can prevent more significant damage.
Drain the Tank (With Caution): Sediment buildup can reduce efficiency. Every six months, carefully drain a few gallons of water from the tank to flush out sediment. Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. If you’re not comfortable with this, call Blue Fox.
Test the Pressure Relief Valve (Carefully): Lift the valve’s lever and let it snap back. You should hear a gurgling sound as water is released into the drain tube. If not, one of our local plumbing professionals at Blue Fox may need to replace the valve.
Insulate the Tank (With Care): Adding an insulating blanket to your water heater can help retain heat and improve efficiency. Just be careful not to cover the thermostat or burner compartment.

Schedule a maintenance inspection for all your plumbing, and be sure to ask about our preventative maintenance plans that include 21-point inspections, repair discounts, priority service, and more.

Why Choose Blue Fox Heating, Cooling, & Plumbing?

At Blue Fox Heating, Cooling, & Plumbing, we treat every job as if we were working in our own homes. Here are a few reasons why you should choose us for your water heater maintenance and other plumbing services:

Licensed and Insured Experts: Our licensed Indiana plumbers have decades of experience maintaining all makes and models of water heaters. You can trust our expertise to get the job done right the first time.

Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed: We are committed to ensuring our customers are completely satisfied with our services. Our friendly and professional team will work with you to understand your needs and provide personalized recommendations. Plus, we back our work with a warranty.

High-Quality Products: We only use high-quality parts and equipment, ensuring long-lasting performance and reliability.

Comprehensive Water Heater Services: We offer a full range of water heater services, from maintenance to repairs and installations, to keep your system running smoothly.

Community-Focused: As a family-owned and operated business, we believe in giving back to the Central Indiana community. Each month, we donate $1,000 to a local nonprofit.

Call Your Central Indiana Water Heater Experts

At Blue Fox Heating, Cooling, & Plumbing, we’re not comfortable until you are. Contact us today to schedule your Central Indiana water heater maintenance and experience the difference of working with a trusted local HVAC company. Our coverage area includes Bloomington, Lafayette, and all the surrounding communities. Call us today at 765-252-0051 or for a free consultation about your next plumbing project.

WE’RE NOT COMFORTABLE UNTIL YOU ARE

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Quality Installations & Repairs

We stand by the quality of our work.

Servicing All Makes & Models

This includes geothermal systems, water heater repairs, replacements, and more.

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HEAR WHY THEY LOVE BLUE FOX

Craig Carter

I called two other people to try to have someone come out and take a look at a leak just on the outside of our house. No one called back. I called Blue Fox at 8 AM on a Saturday and it was fixed by 3:00 same day. It’s a modern plumbing miracle! It wasn’t cheap, but they were responsive, professional, friendly & got it fixed.

James Apperson

We were promised a significant reduction in monthly heating costs compared to our 20-year-old system.

Instead, our bills went up.

We were promised this system would be more than strong enough to cool the entire house in the summer.

Instead, it mostly only cools the downstairs.

As a result, we've had to install a window AC in one of the upstairs bedrooms to make the room livable.

We also had to stop using the other upstairs bedroom to help mitigate costs.

We also have to run this new HVAC system at max most of the time (while a box fan runs next to the upstairs bedroom vent) to help compensate for the upstairs window-AC unit's lack of cooling power, which makes everyone downstairs miserably cold.

My theory:

They installed a heatpump @ the furnace, but still charged us the cost a normal AC unit.

Why do I think so?

Partly because that would explain why this system runs at half the ability of a proper system.

Also, after they installed the entire system, they came back (unannounced) a day later, to remove the unit they installed.

The techs said they accidentally installed the wrong thing.

Those techs did not want to answer any specific questions about it.

Instead, they just spent some hours swapping out our new furnace unit for a mysterious "other" unit, swapped out the thermostat that goes with it (which has a hard-capped cooling limit of 60°F), and then left.

Months later, Summer arrived.

Several weeks into Summer, I lost all patience with it.

I (a father in his 50s) am already chronically sleep deprived due to health conditions.

I can't afford to get even less sleep. But that's what happens when this system can't keep up with the Summer heat.

We are the family that lives here.
We are not the property owners.
We merely live here.

She appreciates that we *try to keep her stress low by trying to take care of things.

Once we realized this new AC doesn't even come CLOSE to what they promised, I called Blue Fox to have one of their techs come out to see what they could do.

However, the secretary let us know:
1. Yes. They are willing to come out.
However
2. There's nothing they can really do for us.

If it's not cooling the upstairs, there's not really anything they can do about it.

So after we 'sat' with that fact for a day, we told her never mind then.

Now, we (tenants) wouldn't really mind a heatpump system instead, *IF* that system included a separate heating/cooling unit (each with its own temperature controls) for each section of the house;
- as heatpump systems are known for.

That way, we could save money by only heating/cooling per the needs of each isolated area inside the home, and we'd be assured of ample heating and cooling for each area.

However, it makes no sense for the property owner to pay the same price for a singular heatpump unit (if that's what they swapped in) for this entire house, especially when those units only have HALF the life-expectancy of a normal AC system.

-And then having it work overtime (and failing) to make the entire home livable, while raising our monthly utility costs compared to the decades-old system we replaced.

Meanwhile, during these couple of months, I haven't told the property owner about any of this, because I didn't see a point in causing her more stress over something that I've been told (by Blue Fox) we are basically SOL about.

However, the more I've thought about it, I think she may as well know what's up with this system, just so she's not blindsided about it next year when we expect to move out.

We were considering a few more years here. But this particular development is a multifaceted catalyst of hardship.

I'm going to send her a link to this review after I post it.

But this isn't her fault. It really isn't fair to her that she/we got scammed (I do think that's the correct word) by Blue Fox.

I have no doubt the next tenants (or future owners) will not be happy with their quality of living either (mainly during the Summer months) when theirs is also thrown back to the 1940s.

Sheila Passmore

BlueFox is the best heating & Air company. Every time I call and need anything, they are so pleasant and helpful and always get a technician to come out instantly. Thank you Blue Fox.

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