Hello All,

Gas water heater, Bradford White - 40 gallon, 40,000btu - Started making a massively loud whining/whistling noise recently. I flushed it today and minor sediment. It only happens when the burner is on. It's been heavily raining here in CA and I read that if water gets down the flue, it can cause noise? - another thought may be the TPR valve is bad? - that would be my next switch out.

Here's a link to a little video with the noise - [drive.google.com]

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Marcus

I would take a long screwdriver and use it like a stethoscope. Put the handle end against your ear and place the tip on the gas valve, thermostat, inlet/outlet nipples, cold water shutoff valve,...and you should be able to pinpoint the culprit.

Thanks Steve.. I'll give that a try..

I had a customer that had a Rheem natural gas water heater that would make a similar noise. He put up with it for several years until he retired and then it bothered him.

Heater still under warranty and the factory sent out gas valves etc.....in the end it was the orifice in the burner.

Your heater is not the same brand but maybe the engineer who worked at Rheem went to work at Bradford White....

Thanks for the reply Curly - I'll reach out to Bradford White..



Edited 1 times.