First two moves: water off, power off
- Shut the cold-water inlet. Follow the cold pipe to the valve on top of the heater and close it. If the valve is stuck or missing, close the home’s main shutoff instead.
- Cut the power. Electric: switch off the water heater’s breaker — a heating element running in a draining tank will burn out and can be a hazard. Gas: turn the control dial to “off.”
- If water is near outlets or the panel, shut off electricity to that area at the breaker — but only if you can reach the panel without standing in water.
Find where the leak is coming from
Where the water originates tells you whether this is a repair or a replacement:
- Cold or hot pipe connections on top — often a loose fitting or worn flex connector. Usually a simple repair.
- The temperature & pressure (T&P) relief valve on the side, or its discharge pipe — could be a failing valve (repairable), but it can also signal dangerous over-pressure or over-temperature. Worth a same-day look either way.
- The drain valve near the bottom — a leaky or partly open drain valve is an inexpensive fix.
- The tank body itself, or steady pooling underneath — the steel tank has rusted through from the inside. There is no repair for a leaking tank. It only gets worse, and the failure mode is the full contents of the tank on your floor.
If the tank itself is leaking, drain it
Once the water and power are off, a failing tank still holds 40–50 gallons. If you’re comfortable doing it: connect a garden hose to the drain valve at the bottom, run it to a floor drain or outside, open the valve, and open a hot tap somewhere in the house to let air in. If you’re not comfortable, leave it — we drain it as the first step of a replacement anyway.
Is a leaking water heater an emergency?
It depends on what’s leaking. A drip at a fitting with the water shut off can wait for a standard appointment. Water from the tank body, a hissing or discharging T&P valve, any leak near a finished space, or any situation where you can’t get the water stopped — treat those as same-day problems. And if you ever smell gas near the unit, leave the house and call from outside.
What a repair-vs-replace decision looks like
When we look at a leaking heater, the answer follows from two things: where it’s leaking and how old the unit is. Fittings and valves on a younger tank are worth repairing. A tank-body leak is a replacement at any age — and in Fairfax County, that replacement needs a county permit and inspection, which the plumber should handle. We cover the decision in detail in Should I Repair or Replace My Water Heater? and the permit process in our Fairfax County permit guide.
Water heater leaking right now in Northern Virginia? Call (703) 832-9090 — we answer 24/7, quote upfront before any work, and handle repair and replacement.