Water heater repair in Aurora, IL

The Fox River and Aurora's deep wells

Aurora is one of the larger Illinois cities that does not rely on Lake Michigan. It pulls surface water from the Fox River and pumps groundwater from wells, including deep wells drilled into the sandstone aquifer hundreds of feet below the Fox Valley. Blending the two gives the city a more reliable supply than either source alone, especially during dry summers when the river runs low.

Both sources start out very hard, and the deep sandstone water can carry naturally occurring radium. The city's treatment plant uses lime softening, which lowers hardness and helps remove radium at the same time. Finished water is moderately hard, so it is gentler than raw well water but still leaves a chalky scale on a tankless heat exchanger and a sandy layer at the bottom of a tank that is never drained.

Because part of the supply comes from underground, Aurora's tap water stays a little warmer in winter than straight river or lake water. Expect around 40°F in late January and low to mid 60s by late August, depending on the blend.

Historic basements and four-county subdivisions

The oldest parts of Aurora cluster around downtown and Stolp Island. The Near East Side, Near West Side and Tanner historic districts are full of Victorian, foursquare and bungalow homes on full basements, many with heaters beside a converted coal chimney. Pigeon Hill and the Riddle Highlands area mix early twentieth century homes with postwar ranches, still mostly with basement installs.

The city grew enormously east and south from the 1980s onward. Fox Valley, the area around the Fox Valley Mall, and subdivisions such as Stonebridge and those along the Eola Road and Route 59 corridors stretch into DuPage, Will and Kendall counties. Those homes usually have full or partial basements with the heater near the sump pit and the furnace, and some newer townhomes put it in a first-floor utility closet.

Large subdivisions built in a short span tend to have heaters of similar age, so entire streets can see tanks failing within a few years of each other.

Fox Valley winters, sump pits and river floods

Aurora's winters are long, with stretches well below zero, as in the January 2019 polar vortex when wind chills dropped past 40 below. Basements stay above freezing in most homes, but rim joists and lines along exterior walls can freeze, and a heater in an unheated garage or crawlspace addition is at risk.

Water in the basement is the other concern. Many Fox Valley homes rely on sump pumps, and when a pump fails during a heavy summer storm, water can rise around the heater base. Older neighborhoods near the Fox River itself have also seen the river overflow its banks in big rain years. A gas heater whose controls got wet should be inspected and usually replaced.

The problems plumbers see most in Aurora

• Scale in tankless units fed by moderately hard blended water.
• Popping, gravelly noises from softened-water residue packed into tanks beside the sump pit.
• Failed sump pumps that let storm water reach burners and controls.
• Old chimney flues on the Near East and Near West sides after furnace upgrades.
• Winter shortfalls in larger households on 40-gallon tanks.
• Expansion tank and relief valve trouble in closed plumbing systems.

Typical water heater prices in Aurora

Aurora prices fall a bit below Chicago and Naperville but above rural Kane and Kendall County. Tight basement stairs in older homes and same-day service during cold snaps raise the cost.

Illinois plumbing licenses and Aurora permits

In Illinois, plumbers are licensed by the Illinois Department of Public Health, and plumbing contractors must register with IDPH as well. The state plumbing code is administered through IDPH, and municipalities can adopt their own amendments. Anyone replacing your water heater should be able to show an IDPH plumbing license.

Within Aurora, water heater permits come through the city's building and permits office, with inspections covering venting, gas piping, the relief valve line and the expansion tank. Because Aurora spans four counties, double-check that the address is inside the city limits. Unincorporated pockets are handled by the county.

Nicor Gas, ComEd and choosing a heater

Nicor Gas serves Aurora's natural gas customers, and ComEd supplies electricity. Gas tanks are the norm in Aurora basements, and tankless gas units have become popular in larger east side homes with multiple bathrooms.

A tankless unit here needs to handle a rise from about 40°F to 120°F in winter, so sizing matters, and a whole-house softener or annual descale protects it from scale. Nicor and ComEd have at times run rebate programs for condensing gas models and heat pump tanks, so check before you buy.

Keeping an Aurora heater in shape

Draining a few gallons from the tank each fall, before the furnace starts running daily, clears the lime-softened residue that settles out of Aurora's blended water. Homes with a water softener of their own can stretch that to every other year, though a home softener running on salt eats through the magnesium anode noticeably quicker in Fox Valley tanks.

Basement owners near the Fox should keep the heater raised a few inches on a block or stand and test the sump pump each spring, ideally with a battery backup. A cheap water alarm set on the concrete next to the heater costs little and gives warning before a slow drip reaches carpet in a finished lower level.

Repair or replace in Aurora

Valves, thermocouples and igniters on a tank younger than eight or nine years are usually worth repairing. A heater past twelve years, with rust at the base or a leaking seam, should be replaced, preferably before it floods the finished basement many Aurora families rely on for living space. See planning a Fox Valley replacement and servicing scaled tankless heaters in Aurora.

Around Aurora

Naperville gets Lake Michigan water through the DuPage Water Commission and has its own permit office. North Aurora, Montgomery, Oswego, Batavia and Sugar Grove each run their own water systems, largely on wells, and some are planning or have joined new Lake Michigan supply arrangements. Unincorporated areas fall under Kane, DuPage, Will or Kendall County building departments.

Water heater questions from Aurora