Water heater repair in Atlanta, GA

Chattahoochee water and Atlanta tanks

The Atlanta Department of Watershed Management takes raw water from the Chattahoochee River, which is fed by Lake Lanier upstream, and treats it at two city plants: the Hemphill plant near Atlantic Station, which holds its supply in reservoirs beside the plant, and the Chattahoochee plant on the river's edge in northwest Atlanta. Sandy Springs and parts of south Fulton also get city water through the same system.

The river runs off granite and red clay rather than limestone, so what comes out of an Atlanta faucet typically measures just one or two grains per gallon, softer than almost anything a Sun Belt plumber deals with. An Atlanta tank opened after ten years often has only a thin film of grit on the bottom, and electric elements rarely wear a mineral crust. Tankless owners can stretch descaling out to every few years.

Very soft water has a downside that Atlanta plumbers know well. It eats the magnesium anode rod at a steady clip, and once that rod is gone the tank lining is left unprotected. Many Atlanta heaters fail by springing a pinhole leak at the seam long before sediment would have mattered, so the anode, not the flush, is the maintenance item worth paying for here.

Basements and crawlspaces in intown Atlanta

The city's older ring of neighborhoods sits on rolling ground, which is why so many houses there have a partial basement on the low side and a crawlspace under the rest. In Virginia-Highland, Grant Park, Kirkwood, Inman Park, Candler Park and Ormewood Park, the water heater in a 1910s or 1920s bungalow is usually in that half-basement, down a short exterior stair, or wedged into the crawlspace near the foundation wall.

Those spaces stay damp from April to October. Red clay holds water against the foundation, a summer thunderstorm can leave an inch on a dirt floor, and gas connectors and tank bottoms rust faster there than in a garage. Crawlspace installs are the hardest swaps in the city, because the old tank may have gone in before a porch, an addition or new ductwork closed off the original path.

Further out, ranch houses in places like East Lake, Westview and the southwest neighborhoods tend to have the heater in a hall closet or carport room. Postwar brick homes in Buckhead and the northside often have full basements with more room to work. Midtown and Downtown towers mostly run electric tanks in unit closets or central boiler systems, and most of the new townhomes on the Beltline have a tank or tankless unit in the garage.

Ice storms and Atlanta winters

Atlanta rarely sees deep cold, but an ice storm every few winters can knock out Georgia Power service for days and send temperatures into the teens. Crawlspace pipes are the weak point. A supply line under a Kirkwood bungalow can freeze where it passes an open foundation vent, then split when the thaw comes and soak the space around the heater.

Before a hard freeze, close or block crawlspace vents, wrap the cold and hot lines near the heater, and find the curb or basement shutoff while it is still daylight. If an outage lasts long enough for the house to chill, an electric tank will hold warm water for many hours; a gas tank with a standing pilot keeps working without power, but newer power-vent and tankless gas units stop until the electricity is back.

The problems plumbers see most in Atlanta

• Pinhole leaks at the tank seam once very soft river water has used up the anode.
• Rusted gas connectors and flex lines in damp half-basements and crawlspaces.
• Backdrafting gas heaters left alone on a clay-tile or masonry flue after a furnace upgrade in an old bungalow.
• Frozen and split crawlspace lines after a January ice storm.
• Clogged pan drains on heaters in Midtown condo closets and townhome attics.
• Undersized tanks in renovated intown houses that added a second bathroom without a bigger heater.

Typical water heater prices in Atlanta

Where a job lands in these ranges in Atlanta mostly comes down to getting the tank in and out. A garage swap in a Beltline townhome is quick; a crawlspace heater under a raised Grant Park cottage, or a condo unit that needs freight elevator booking and building approval, adds hours.

Georgia licenses and City of Atlanta permits

Plumbers in Georgia are licensed by the State Construction Industry Licensing Board through its plumbing division, which issues master and journeyman plumber licenses. A master plumber's license is what allows a contractor to pull permits and take responsibility for the job, and the Georgia Secretary of State's licensing site lets you look one up by name in a minute.

Inside city limits, permits come from the City of Atlanta Office of Buildings, part of the Department of City Planning. Replacing a water heater needs a plumbing permit, plus a gas permit when the fuel line is touched, and the inspector looks at the relief valve discharge, venting, gas connection and the drain pan. Decatur, Sandy Springs, Brookhaven and the counties each run their own permit desks, so a quote near a city line should name the right one.

Georgia Power, Atlanta Gas Light and your gas bill

Georgia's gas market is unusual. Atlanta Gas Light owns and maintains the pipes and meters, but homeowners buy the gas itself from a certificated marketer such as Georgia Natural Gas or SCANA Energy. If a pilot will not stay lit because of a supply problem, or you smell gas at the meter, Atlanta Gas Light is the company to call; billing questions go to your marketer.

Electricity across the city comes from Georgia Power, which has run efficiency programs that included water heating at times. That matters when an electric tank in a condo or townhouse fails, because a heat pump unit can sometimes fit the same garage space and use far less power, though most interior closets in Midtown are too small to give one the air it needs.

Venting in old Atlanta houses

Many intown bungalows were built with a single brick chimney that later served a gas furnace and the water heater together. Once a condensing furnace takes over and exhausts through plastic pipe in the side wall, the heater is left alone in a cold, oversized flue, and on mild spring days it may not draw at all. Soot on the draft hood, a melted plastic fitting on top of the tank, or a burning smell in the basement are the signs.

A licensed plumber can size a stainless liner for the old chimney, reroute the heater into a new metal vent, or switch to a power-vent tank that exhausts through the foundation wall. On a sloping lot, the clearance from windows, the property line and the ground outside often decides which of those choices works.

Repair or replace in Atlanta

On Chattahoochee water, a tank's age matters less than the condition of its anode. A seven-year-old heater that still has a healthy rod is a good candidate for a new thermocouple, igniter or gas valve. A heater of the same age that has never had its anode changed may already be thinning, so any damp spot at the base or rusty first draw of hot water is a strong hint to replace instead of repair.

Location shifts the math too. Because crawlspace swaps cost so much more, Atlanta owners with a heater under the house often choose to relocate the new one to a closet, back porch room or garage when they finally replace it, which can make every later repair cheaper and safer.

Around Atlanta

Decatur and Brookhaven rely on DeKalb County's water system, which also draws on the Chattahoochee, and each city runs its own inspections. Sandy Springs buys water from Atlanta but issues its own permits. Marietta and Smyrna in Cobb County get water through the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority, and Gwinnett suburbs such as Duluth and Lawrenceville draw from Lake Lanier through Gwinnett's own utility. East Point runs a separate city water system as well.

Water heater questions from Atlanta