Water heater repair in Longmont, CO

From Button Rock and Carter Lake to Longmont taps

Longmont owns one of the more self-contained water systems on the northern Front Range. Its oldest source is the North St. Vrain Creek, which the city captures behind Button Rock Dam in Ralph Price Reservoir, up the canyon west of Lyons. The second major source is Colorado-Big Thompson Project water, which tunnels beneath the Divide from the Colorado River headwaters and is stored in Carter Lake, southwest of Loveland. Both supplies come down to the city by pipeline.

The Nelson-Flanders Water Treatment Plant handles most of the filtering and disinfection, and the city has been expanding it to take over capacity from the older Wade Gaddis plant, which has served as a seasonal and backup facility. Operators add a small dose of soda ash or caustic to keep the finished water from being corrosive to copper and steel.

For a water heater owner, the result is soft water that leaves only a thin skin of scale inside a tank. A Longmont gas heater usually dies from a perforated lining or a failed control long before sediment becomes its main problem. Tankless units also stay cleaner here than in Greeley or along the Interstate 25 corridor where well water is common, though they still deserve an occasional vinegar flush.

Old Town bungalows to Prospect and Clover Basin

The blocks around Main Street and the historic east side hold Longmont's oldest homes: brick and frame houses built between the 1880s and the Depression, a lot of them sitting over partial basements or cellars with narrow, steep steps. In these houses the heater often shares a cramped utility corner with a newer furnace, and the original chimney may be lined, abandoned or still serving the gas appliances. Plumbers check that liner carefully, because an old masonry flue can crumble and block the exhaust path.

Neighborhoods built from the 1950s through the 1980s, including the streets around Sunset, Southmoor Park and the areas north of Ken Pratt Boulevard, are full of ranches, bi-levels and tri-levels. Bi-levels here commonly tuck the heater into a lower-level laundry room beside the furnace. Newer areas such as Prospect New Town, Clover Basin, Somerset Meadows and the subdivisions along the city's eastern and southwestern edges have two-story homes with full basements, where the heater sits on a concrete floor near the sump pit.

What the 2013 St. Vrain flood taught Longmont

In September 2013, days of steady rain turned the St. Vrain Creek and Left Hand Creek into torrents. The St. Vrain cut Longmont in half for a time, washing out bridges and filling homes and businesses near the creek, and Lyons upstream was cut off almost entirely. Pipelines and diversion works serving the city were damaged, and Longmont spent years rebuilding along the Resilient St. Vrain project to widen the channel and reduce future risk.

Basements far from the creek also took on water that September as the ground became saturated. Gas water heaters that stood in that water needed replacement, since a soaked gas control valve or burner assembly cannot be trusted afterward. Many Longmont owners now set heaters on a raised stand with a drain pan and a leak alarm, especially in basements that were finished after the flood.

Elevation, cold water and Front Range wind

At roughly 4,980 feet, Longmont is high enough that gas appliances must be set up for altitude. A standard sea-level burner fed too much gas in thinner air runs rich, which shows up as yellow tips on the flame, a sooty flue baffle and an unpleasant smell near the heater. Installers either buy units listed for the elevation or derate them with the parts the manufacturer specifies.

Winter inlet water from the mountains can arrive in the low 40s, which forces a tank to work far harder in January than in August. A 40-gallon tank that kept up with a couple in summer can leave a family of five short after the second shower when the creeks are icy. Westerly downslope winds that sweep off the foothills on winter nights also catch roof vent caps and can push air back down a natural-draft flue.

Repairs Longmont plumbers handle most

• Soot and yellow flames from burners that were never adjusted for nearly 5,000 feet.
• Short hot water in January when Button Rock and Carter Lake water reaches the house close to 40 degrees.
• Thinning anodes that let soft, lightly treated water start rusting the tank from inside.
• Pilot outages on windy nights after downslope gusts force air back down the vent.
• Leaks onto finished basement carpet in homes rebuilt or remodeled after the 2013 flood.
• Electrical questions on heat pump conversions, including breaker space and 240-volt circuits from LPC service.

Water heater prices in Longmont

Longmont quotes tend to land a little below Boulder and close to the rest of the northern Denver suburbs. Old Town basements with steep stairs, flues that need relining and heat pump conversions that require new circuits push the number up. Longmont Power & Communications and Xcel have each offered efficiency incentives at times, and those programs change, so confirm what is available before you sign.

Longmont permits and Colorado plumbing licenses

Inside city limits, water heater replacements require a permit through Longmont's Building Services division at the Development Services Center on Kimbark Street. An inspector confirms the relief valve discharge, gas connection, venting, combustion air and altitude setup. Addresses in unincorporated Boulder County, such as much of Niwot, go through Boulder County instead, while homes over the Weld County line follow Weld County or the town they sit in.

Colorado licenses residential, journeyman and master plumbers through the State Plumbing Board, which operates within the Department of Regulatory Agencies. You can look up any plumber's credential on the DORA website in a minute or two. A Longmont contractor who installs a heater should be ready to name the permit number and schedule the final inspection with you.

City power and the case for heat pumps

Longmont is one of the few Colorado cities that runs its own electric utility. Longmont Power & Communications buys wholesale power through the Platte River Power Authority and also operates NextLight, the city's fiber internet service. Natural gas comes from Xcel Energy. That split matters when comparing operating costs, because LPC residential electric rates have historically been lower than many investor-owned utilities on the Front Range.

Heat pump water heaters suit Longmont basements well. They pull heat from air that stays fairly steady year round below grade, and they dehumidify a space that can feel damp after spring storms. Plan for a condensate drain, roughly seven feet of height clearance on many models and a dedicated circuit, though some newer 120-volt units plug into an ordinary outlet.

Keeping a Longmont heater healthy

With soft St. Vrain and Carter Lake water, the anode is the part worth watching. A plumber can pull it during a routine visit and swap it before the steel underneath starts to rust; on a tank installed during the post-flood rebuilds, that check is now well overdue. A light annual drain still clears the fine silt that spring runoff can carry through the system.

If the tank is dry and younger than roughly a decade, a dead igniter, thermocouple or gas valve is normally worth fixing. Replace when you see rusty water from the hot side, a damp ring on the floor or a heater that has already sat in floodwater once. Many Longmont homes built in the 1990s and 2000s still have their original tanks, and those are prime candidates for planned replacement before a leak reaches the carpet.

Around Longmont

Niwot to the southwest is unincorporated and gets water from Left Hand Water District, with Boulder County permits. Lyons, up the St. Vrain, runs its own small water system and rebuilt heavily after 2013. Firestone, Frederick and Mead to the east are fast-growing Weld County towns with their own building departments and, in places, different water providers such as Central Weld County Water District. Berthoud to the north and Erie to the south also keep their own utilities and permit counters.

Water heater questions from Longmont