How a Los Angeles water heater gets repaired or replaced
Tank heaters seldom quit without a hint. Water in the drain pan, a damp spot on the concrete in the garage, or a burner that crackles and booms are the usual early signs. Inside, a sacrificial anode rod corrodes so the steel does not; once the rod is spent, the tank starts rusting from within. Hard water speeds that up and buries the burner under sediment, which overheats the bottom of the tank. Common replacement sizes are easy to get, so parts rarely hold up a job. Every installation includes new flex connectors and a new temperature and pressure (T&P) relief valve with its discharge piped to a safe place, the two seismic straps California code requires, a drain pan where the location calls for one, and a sediment trap on the gas line ahead of the control valve.
A lot of Los Angeles heaters live in awkward spots: a closet off a Craftsman's service porch, an exterior cabinet on an apartment walkway, a crawl space, or a cramped garage tucked under a hillside house. Older installs often have one strap or none, a relief line that dead-ends inside a wall, or a flue that has rusted through. Those get brought up to code along with the replacement. Tankless heaters are covered on a separate page; gas sizing, vent routing and descaling are their own subjects. Everything here concerns tanks.
Plenty of heaters still have years ahead of them. When the pilot keeps dying, the thermocouple is worn, an electric element has burned out, the T&P valve leaks or the gas control fails, one part is to blame. With a heater younger than about eight years and a dry tank, a repair usually makes sense, and flushing the sediment and fitting a new anode can extend a sound tank's life. In the Hollywood Hills, Silver Lake and Mount Washington, where street pressure runs high, a T&P valve that weeps day after day usually means the house pressure is too high or heated water has nowhere to expand. A new pressure regulator with an expansion tank beside the heater solves it.
On every water heater job
- Installed under license #1131308 (C-36) with the CSLB
- 24-hour emergency response when a tank is leaking
- A written price for the repair or the replacement before anything starts
- Repairs and new installs both carry our written workmanship warranty
Signs the tank is near the end
- Showers going lukewarm earlier than they used to
- Discolored water or a metallic smell at the hot tap only
- Crackling or booming each time the burner comes on
- Water in the drain pan, or rust streaks on the jacket near the floor
- A T&P valve weeping onto the floor, or a pilot that dies again and again
- A tank ten years old or older
Your setup checked first
The plumber starts by measuring the house water pressure and checking the flue, the gas supply and the relief discharge, then asks how many people share the hot water and how many bathrooms draw on it.
Two prices when both make sense
Sometimes keeping the heater and replacing it are both sensible. In that case two written prices go side by side, and the choice is yours.
Code items included
Two seismic straps, a relief line ending where scalding water can hurt no one, a sediment trap on the gas line, a sound vent, and an expansion tank when a pressure regulator makes the plumbing a closed system.
Lit, tested and explained
The burner is lit, each connection is watched for leaks as the water heats, and the thermostat gets its setting. Before leaving, the plumber shows you how to drain a few gallons each year, which matters with water this hard.
Why Los Angeles calls us for water heaters
We are based in Los Angeles. Fire, water under pressure and scalding heat share one closet, and a careless install tends to resurface years later as a leak, a backdrafting vent or a permit that will not close. Four points are standard on every job.
Common sizes within reach
Forty- and fifty-gallon gas tanks and the usual electric models are carried by suppliers around the city, so parts are seldom the hold-up.
Code work is part of the price
Nothing the inspector requires is sold as an extra: straps, relief piping, sediment trap and venting are written into the installation price.
Honest advice on tankless
Tankless is the right call for some houses, and we say so when it is. A price comes only after we know the gas meter and line can carry the larger load and there is a place to run the vent.
Records that stay with the house
The closed permit (LADBS inside the city, or your own city's building department) goes in your file along with the heater's make, model and serial number, useful paperwork for a sale or a refinance.
What a new heater's price depends on
Start with the unit: gas or electric, how many gallons, a standard flue or a power vent, and whether a high-efficiency model needs its own venting and condensate line.
Then where it sits and what it connects to. Swapping a tank in an open garage is simpler than working one out of a Craftsman's service porch closet or an apartment's utility closet, where the owner or the building may set access rules. A missing strap, a relief line that dead-ends, a rusted flue, or hillside street pressure with no working regulator is fixed as part of the job. A replacement inside the city needs an LADBS permit; every other city in the county issues its own.
All of it is looked at in person before any figure is given. Installation waits for your approval of the written price.
Water heater calls across the county
Los Angeles is our base and our only location, and water heater calls from anywhere in the county are dispatched from here.
Central Los Angeles and the hills
Service porch heaters in the bungalows of Highland Park, West Adams and Mid-City, closet heaters in Koreatown and Hollywood apartments, and hillside homes in Silver Lake and Mount Washington where high pressure keeps relief valves dripping.
The Valley, Burbank, Glendale and San Fernando
Garage tanks in the slab ranch houses of Van Nuys, Encino and North Hollywood, heaters in the older homes of Burbank and Glendale, and the 1920s to 1950s houses of San Fernando, each replaced under that city's own permit.
The Westside and Inglewood
Heaters in the apartment and condo buildings of Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Culver City, larger tanks and long hot water runs in Beverly Hills houses, and the older homes of Inglewood, each permitted with its own city.
Other cities in the county
Water heater calls from Long Beach, Pasadena, Torrance, the San Gabriel Valley and the rest of the county are dispatched from our Los Angeles location too.
Hot water questions
Size follows use. A two-bathroom house often does well with 50 gallons of gas-fired storage, but the right number depends on how many people shower in the morning, whether laundry and dishes overlap with them, and how much gas the supply pipe delivers.
Two facts settle repair or replace: the age of the heater and whether the tank itself is leaking. A younger heater with a dry tank usually needs one part. An older one, or any tank weeping from its seams, is better replaced than repaired.
Tankless makes sense when a house keeps running out of hot water and the gas service can grow to feed it. The trade is a larger install and regular descaling, since Los Angeles water scales a heat exchanger, in return for hot water that does not run out. Both options are compared in writing before you choose.
Swapping one tank for another of the same kind is the simpler job. Switching to tankless is a bigger one, because the gas line, the vent and sometimes the electrical supply change.
Every replacement goes through a permit. LADBS issues it for addresses in the city of Los Angeles; Burbank, Glendale, Santa Monica and the rest each run their own. We apply, meet the inspector and close it out.
24/7 Emergency Plumbing
Crawl-space floods, slab leaks and stack backups, at any hour.
Drain Cleaning & Hydro Jetting
Slow tubs and rooted laterals filmed, then jetted clean.
Sewer Repair & Repipe
Clay laterals put right and old galvanized water lines renewed.
Gas Leak Detection & Repair
Gas piping traced, repaired and pressure tested before the meter goes back on.
Night leaks from a heater count as emergencies
Water spreading from the heater closet at midnight is worth a call. Someone picks up at any hour. A leaking tank in any city of the county is a 24-hour emergency response call, dispatched from our Los Angeles location.