LA Plumbing Pros
Water heaters in Los Angeles
Thermocouples, anodes, valves, and replacement when the tank is finished.
No hot water is usually a repair. A tank leaking from its own body is usually not. Telling those two apart takes about ten minutes and it is the difference between a small bill and a large one, so it is where we start, not where we end up.
What usually fails first
On a gas heater it is the thermocouple or the pilot assembly, and the symptom is a pilot that will not stay lit. On an electric one it is an element or a thermostat, and the symptom is water that is warm, not hot, or hot for two minutes. The temperature and pressure relief valve weeps as it ages. The flex connectors and the shutoff above the tank are their own small jobs.
All of those are repairs on a tank that is otherwise sound, and we will do the repair instead of talking you into a replacement you did not come here for.
The part that corrodes so the tank does not
There is a sacrificial rod inside the tank whose whole purpose is to corrode in place of the steel. While it is there the tank is protected. When it is gone, the tank is next, and the first visible sign is usually water on the floor.
Checking it is cheap and it tells you where a heater is in its life, which is a far better basis for a decision than the year on the label. If yours has years left we will tell you that and leave it alone.
When a tank is finished
Water coming from the body of the tank, not from a fitting. Rust in the hot water. A tank that has been repaired twice already. At that point the honest answer is replacement, and the next question is what goes back in.
Tankless, and what it changes in your house
A tankless heater is not a swap. It changes the gas line size, the venting, where the unit hangs and how often it has to be descaled, and this city's water makes that last one matter more than the brochure does. Some houses take one easily. Some need work that costs more than the heater.
We will tell you what your house would need before you spend anything on the question, including when the answer is that another tank is the sensible choice.
Questions people ask us
How long does a water heater last?
It depends far more on the water and on whether the sacrificial rod was ever replaced than on the make. We will tell you where yours is instead of quoting you an average.
Is sediment in the tank a real problem?
Yes. It insulates the bottom of the tank from the burner, so the heater works harder for less hot water, and on a gas tank it shortens the life of the steel.
Does a new heater need anything else done?
Often the seismic strapping, the flex connectors, the shutoff and the pan. We will tell you which of those your install needs before we start.
Tell us what is wrong.
Say what the problem is and where you are. We will tell you what we can do and what it takes.
Our work is covered for a year.
A photograph of a Los Angeles street of this kind. Not a photograph of a job by this company.