No hot water?

Question #1:
Gas or electric water heater?

@ibstubro
Honest to god, I have no idea.
Pretty sure it’s gas, but not positive.

Do you have gas heat and appliances? A gas stove, for example? If you have gas in the dwelling for other purposes, then it’s a good bet that you also have gas for the water heater. (But not a sure thing, obviously.)

Even so, I would check the electric panel for a blown circuit breaker first. You do know what the electric panel is, right?

@CWOTUS yes, checking now

@CWOTUS Nothing is blown.

Easy to tell the difference is there electrical wires going to the water heater?
A gas one would have a pipe,tube, type line coming up to a box on the side of it.
But do what @CWOTUS said check for a tripped breaker first.
if that isn’t it ,it sounds like the pilot light gone out on a gas water heater, look at the very bottom of the water heater if there is a slide type door ,slide it open and look in to see if you can see a flame.
Also newer ones will have directions on the side as to how to light the pilot light.
NO hot water is no fun.

Is your cook stove and dryer gas or electric? @FeelTheBern?

@ibstubro That doesn’t say a thing we have an electric cook stove, and an Electric clothes dryer.
But we do have a gas hot water heater.

Pilot lights on gas hot water heaters can make a “pop” sound when the blow out. Perhaps you could check to see if you have a flame or not.

I think only someone who knows what they’re doing should attempt to light the pilot light.

I am going to half agree with @jca , lighting a pilot is fairly easy but if you are uneasy about it at all you should then have someone who knows what they are doing, do it then.

My thing (for myself) is I’m afraid of fire. If the heater is gas and there’s a flame involved, to light the pilot, then I’d be worried I’d cause an explosion.

The instructions are fairly easy to follow, I have lit more than one hot water heater that lost it’s pilot light.

I’m sure they are very easy. I’m talking for myself, I’m anxious about explosions when it comes to things like gas and flames.

Thank you all for the info!

@FeelTheBern did you find out if it’s an electrical hot water heater or a gas one??

It’s a gas one. We just can’t get the panel off. So I have a friend coming over to help, so he should be able fix it some with y’alls information.

Slow and steady, @jca, @FeelTheBern . The pilot light directions are likely on the door.

I bumbled my way through my first pilot light lighting, and still trying today (turns out the furnace has electronic ignition).

When I was a kid? Our gas stove had a hole, front center, and you had to stick a lit match in it and turn the gas on to light the oven,

@FeelTheBern get the make and model off the hot water heater then google how to light the pilot.

@FeelTheBern Unless the hot water heater is 30 years old, you should not have to remove any panel to restart the pilot.

I think “panel” means the metal shield on the lower part of the tank which must be removed to view the pilot light. All in all, if bern knows so little about a water heater, it’s probably best that he watch someone who knows the drill. It’s nice to have friends.

@SQUEEKY2 Most people who have gas stove tops have gas hot water heaters, but not necessarily the reverse.

You’re probably right @stanleybmanly , being a home owner I was forced to learn quickly when we lost the pilot on ours and it turned out to be the thermocouple which I replaced my self , $10 dollar part the gas guy said he could come and do it but there really was nothing to it and he said he would have to charge $200.
But if someone is zero mechanical, or very nervous then best to pay to have it done, myself I get quite annoyed paying someone big dollars for a job I can easily do myself.

I would agree with that, @JLeslie and I think what @ibstubro was trying to see if they had gas at all because the poster was unsure what type of water heater they had at all.

@SQUEEKY2 yes indeed. Non mechanical people can get screwed mightily. Although for the absolutely clueless, most utility companies that I know about will send a technician out to check out a water heater free of charge.

@stanleybmanly That is probably what the poster said that they did have someone coming but wouldn’t be there till Wednesday, too long for people to be without hot water in my opinion.

Yeah. That’s dumb. Utilities should hop on such a complaint right away. You don’t want anxious people tempted or forced to diddle with gas or electrical lines!

Hey @FeelTheBern did your friend come over and look at it?
What did he do, did he get it going again for ya?

@SQUEEKY2 He did take a look at it, but I guess something is wrong with the parts for it?
I have no idea, he called a professional that’s coming out today out of a favor. So everything will be dandy.

Watch & learn!

I should have asked this before @FeelTheBern does your Mom own the home?
If she does it is well worth it to do exactly like @stanleybmanly said be there if at all possible ,ask questions, and watch and learn, in fact it is still worth in case you are ever a home owner and can do it yourself ,I saved $190 minus the $10 dollar part doing it myself,I don’t know about you but to me $190 is a lot of money for an easy type job.

I hate to think of how much it would cost me to pay for mild household maintenance chores to be performed by “professionals”. Everyone needs rudimentary understanding of the way things work, if for no other reason than when the “professional” tells you he needs 300 bucks to snake out your drain, you can recognize him for either the thief that he probably is or an honest tradesman confronted with a difficult job.

I have a commercial rental building and a young man was running a business there. The second time he called me to light the hot water heater I said, ‘You’re welcome to call be when it goes out, and I’ll come light it, but the next time I do it, you’re coming down there with me. Some day you’ll be the man of the house and your girlfriend will expect hot water.”