What Your Water Heater Is Telling You
The symptom usually points to the part. Here's what the most common ones mean:
- No hot water from an electric tank. A heating element has often burned out.
- No hot water from a gas tank. A failed thermocouple can keep the pilot from staying lit. Less often, the gas valve is the problem.
- Rumbling or popping sounds. Sediment has settled at the bottom of the tank, and it gets stirred up as the water heats.
- Water around the base. Something is leaking. If it's coming from the tank itself, the tank has to be replaced.
- Rusty or brown hot water. The tank may be rusting inside, or the anode rod that protects it is used up.
- A tankless unit showing an error code. Scale buildup is a common cause, especially in homes with hard water.
What Common Repairs Cost
These are typical ranges. Your written estimate is the final number.
- Heating element or thermocouple: $75 to $350
- Gas valve: $200 to $500
- Anode rod: $75 to $200
- Sediment flush: $80 to $150
- Tankless descaling: $100 to $250
Tankless Water Heater Repair
Tankless units have narrow passages inside. Hard water leaves scale in them, and scale slows the flow and sets off error codes. Before anyone tells you to replace a tankless unit that's throwing codes, ask about descaling. It clears up a lot of these calls on its own.
Most tankless makers, including Noritz, Navien, Rheem and Rinnai, ask for yearly descaling in hard-water areas. Some make it a condition of the warranty. If your unit is failing even after regular descaling, it may be time for a new one, and our tankless installation page covers sizing and cost.
Repair or Replace? Use the 50% Rule
If a repair costs more than half the price of a new water heater, and the unit is 8 to 10 years old or more, replacement usually wins. A standard tank replacement runs $800 to $1,800 installed.
So on a 10-year-old tank, a repair quote above $400 to $900 deserves a second look. On a newer unit with one failed part, repair is almost always the smarter spend.
Smell Gas Near the Water Heater?
Don't try to fix it. Leave the house, then call 911 and SoCalGas at 1-800-427-2200 from outside. Once the gas company says it's safe, our gas leak detection service finds and repairs the leak.
Maintenance That Prevents Most Repairs
Tank water heaters. Flush the tank once a year, check the anode rod every 2 to 3 years, and test the pressure relief valve yearly. These steps keep sediment and rust from shortening the tank's life.
Tankless water heaters. Plan on yearly descaling if your water is hard. A water softener cuts down on scale in both tank and tankless units, so you need service less often.
