Water Heater Popping/Hissing in the Night

[Andy+Mo]

Last night I woke up to hear a popping/hissing sound that seemed to be coming from my hot water heater. I don't remember hearing anything like that before. When we are camping and are on shore power I have always set it to electric and just leave it on until we leave. I could tell it the noise was coming from the tank by the sound of it and flipped off the electric switch and the sound slowly faded and stopped. We are on the road and will be in the camper for a few weeks now. I am a little nervous that there might be something significant going on? I flipped it back on this morning, ran some hot water and nothing other than the normal pitch/hum of the running water heater. Thoughts? Side note: I do not think this means anything but i disconnected our city water hookup last night before turning in because it was going to get down around 33 degrees. Ran water from the freshwater tank using the pump...not much...brush teeth and off to bed.

[TucsonJim]

Hi Andi,

Without hearing the actual noise and trying to pinpoint it, I'm taking an educated guess and saying you're fine. Most tanks will make some popping noises when going through heating cycles. If you were getting over pressure, your pressure relief valve would protect you. As long as it's not popping the pressure relief valve, I'd say you're good to go. I do know that my tank makes some odd noises when we're hooked to shore power and turn it on electric.

Jim

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Andy,

Not a direct comparison . . . but, we have a Keurig coffee maker and sometimes it heats the water quietly and sometimes it makes the noises you describe . . . I have no idea why, but this does not affect the function.

Rob

[howson]

Andy+Mo

A couple of easy checks to lower the anxiety level.

1) Open the exterior cover and look for any evidence of water leaks or spray from the Temperature and Pressure valve (T&P). It's the valve with the silver handle on top.

2) With the water at it's maximum temperature (component's been on for awhile) fill a coffee cup with the hottest water you can get from a faucet. Then measure the temperature with a thermometer. It should be around 140 degrees in your '17 Reflection (since it likely has a 6 gallon like the one in my '19).

Please fire back with the results.

Howard

[Jlawles2]

Popping was probably the boiling of the water on the electric heating element, followed by a sudden cooling and re heating of water in the same spot (hissing). This is probably due to the lower / no water pressure in the tank during heating. Any time you remove water pressure from the unit it should be turned off to prevent this from happening.

You may also want to clean or have cleaned the HWH. there could be some build up on the element that will also result in a similar occurrence. Not very common, but build up can happen on anything in the water system.

[Andy+Mo]

Gentleman - thanks for the ideas and assurances! We are visiting some friends while on the road to Florida this weekend (in their driveway now) so I will sleep a little better... I will check the items Howard and Joseph mentioned when we get to our destination on Monday. I think you are all correct about it probably being okay. It was just odd that it happened at 4 in the morning. I leave it on 24/7 when we are camping and forgot that it cycles the heating even when we are not using it in the middle of the night - duh! I am a bit of a nervous Nelly when I hear our unit making unusual noises that I can't remember hearing before!

[Jlawles2]

Tis better to err on the side of caution than deal with the aftermath. Remember pressurized water boils at a higher temperature than non pressurized water. This is why radiators use a cap set at 18 psi or better (roughly).

[Country Campers]

" It was just odd that it happened at 4 in the morning."

That is standard for every RV owner, if it can go wrong it will and usually in the wee hours of the morning.

Brian