Water heater repair in Tuscaloosa, AL

Lake Tuscaloosa and the city's two plants

The City of Tuscaloosa draws its drinking water from Lake Tuscaloosa, a reservoir on the North River that the city built in the late 1960s north of town. Raw water is treated at two plants, the Ed Love Water Treatment Plant and the Jack Warner Water Treatment Plant, which together supply the city and parts of the surrounding county. Older reservoirs such as Lake Harris and Lake Nicol remain part of the system's history and backup capacity.

North River water drains wooded hills in Fayette and northern Tuscaloosa counties, and it reaches taps soft and low in minerals. Tanks here build very little scale, and tankless units can go a long while between descalings. Soft water is gentler on heating surfaces, but it can be harder on anode rods, which may need replacing sooner than homeowners expect.

In summer the lake warms and the water entering homes climbs into the 80s, so heaters coast. In January it falls to the upper 40s, which roughly doubles the work a heater does to deliver a hot shower. That seasonal swing is why so many Tuscaloosa calls about weak hot water arrive during the first cold week of the year.

College rentals and crawlspace homes

The University of Alabama shapes the housing market in much of the city. Older bungalows and duplexes in neighborhoods around the Strip, Downtown and the Pinehurst area are rented to students, and several roommates showering before morning classes or after a game day push small tanks hard. Heaters in those rentals are often found in a hall closet, an enclosed back porch or a crawlspace, with little maintenance between tenants.

Established neighborhoods such as Glendale Gardens, the Druid City district, Forest Lake, Indian Hills and Woodland Forrest have homes on raised foundations, where the water heater may sit in a closet or, in some cases, under the house. Crawlspace heaters are hard to reach and stay damp most of the year, so corrosion on gas connectors and venting is common. Newer subdivisions east of town and toward Cottondale and Lake Tuscaloosa usually put heaters in garages.

Large apartment complexes and student high-rises built over the last two decades usually run individual electric tanks in each unit or central boiler systems. Repairs in those buildings are typically handled by property management, but individual landlords of houses and duplexes call plumbers directly.

Storms and the April 2011 tornado

On April 27, 2011, a violent tornado tore across Tuscaloosa, destroying homes and businesses from Cedar Crest and Forest Lake through Rosedale and Alberta City. Rebuilding replaced thousands of homes, and many neighborhoods now have newer houses and water heaters than their age would suggest.

Severe weather is still a regular risk in West Alabama. Storms bring power outages, falling trees and occasional flash flooding along creeks such as Cottondale Creek and Hurricane Creek. Heaters that sit in floodwater should be replaced. After a long outage, a gas pilot or electronic igniter may need a service call to relight safely.

The problems plumbers see most in Tuscaloosa

• Undersized tanks in student rentals with four or five tenants.
• Spent anode rods and rust-colored hot water from soft-water corrosion.
• Rusty connectors and vents on crawlspace heaters in older homes.
• Pilot and igniter failures after storms and long power outages.
• Leaking relief valves on tanks that have run hot and hard for years.
• Slow recovery in winter when lake water drops into the upper 40s.

Typical water heater prices in Tuscaloosa

Tuscaloosa prices tend to be a bit lower than in Birmingham. Crawlspace work, rentals that need fast turnaround between leases and homes needing new gas lines push costs higher, and demand spikes in August when students move in.

Alabama licensing and Tuscaloosa permits

Plumbing and gas fitting in Alabama are both regulated by one state body, the Plumbers and Gas Fitters Examining Board in Montgomery, which issues master and journeyman certificates in each trade. A gas water heater replacement in Tuscaloosa should involve someone certified for gas fitting as well as plumbing. The board offers a public lookup so you can confirm a certificate before the job starts.

Inside city limits, the City of Tuscaloosa's building and inspections office permits water heater swaps, and its inspectors look over the flue, gas piping, relief discharge and any required pan. Northport, across the Black Warrior River, and unincorporated Tuscaloosa County handle permits separately, so a plumber working in Holt or Cottondale may deal with a different office.

Power, gas and sizing for rentals

Alabama Power supplies electricity to most of Tuscaloosa, while Spire, the company that took over Alagasco, serves most Tuscaloosa gas customers. Gas tanks remain the most common choice in houses, while apartments lean electric. Heat pump water heaters have sometimes qualified for Alabama Power efficiency offers.

For a rental house shared by four or five students, a 50-gallon gas tank or an electric unit with fast recovery avoids the cold-shower complaints that come with a 40-gallon unit. Some landlords near campus have moved to tankless units, which suit Tuscaloosa's soft water well, though they cost more up front.

Repair or replace in Tuscaloosa

Most gas or electric tanks under eight years old are worth repairing when a thermocouple, igniter, element or valve fails. Lake Tuscaloosa's soft water consumes anodes, so a tank still on its original rod may start leaking at the seams sooner than its age suggests. If rust-colored water or a wet spot appears at the base of a tank older than ten years, replacement is the better choice.

Around Tuscaloosa

Northport, across the Black Warrior River, runs its own water and permit offices. Cottondale, Holt and Coker depend on county or local water systems. Brookwood and Vance, home to the Mercedes-Benz plant, have their own growing neighborhoods, and Moundville to the south handles its own small-town water and inspections.

Water heater questions from Tuscaloosa