Water heater repair in Urbandale, IA

Urbandale Water Utility and the river supply

Urbandale Water Utility is a separate municipal utility, not a department buried inside city hall. It owns the pipes, storage and meters inside Urbandale and serves customers across both the Polk County and Dallas County sides of town. What it does not do is treat raw water. Instead it purchases finished water from Des Moines Water Works, whose plants draw on the Raccoon River, the Des Moines River and shallow collector wells and galleries along the Raccoon, then lime-soften and disinfect it.

That arrangement is changing shape as metro utilities work through Central Iowa Water Works, the regional entity created to share ownership of treatment and supply among Des Moines and its suburbs. For a homeowner on Aurora Avenue or 100th Street, the practical effect stays the same: treated river water that is moderately hard, swings widely in temperature through the year, and leaves a gritty layer in any Urbandale tank nobody drains.

River temperature is the detail most people overlook. By late January the water entering an Urbandale basement can be just a few degrees above freezing, so a 40-gallon tank must raise it by 80-plus degrees. In August, the same tank coasts. Heaters that seem fine all summer often show their age the first cold week of December.

From Merle Hay ranches to northwest subdivisions

The oldest part of Urbandale sits near its eastern border with Des Moines, around Douglas Avenue, Merle Hay Road and 70th Street. Those blocks are full of 1950s and 1960s ranches and split-levels with poured basements, where a gas tank shares a masonry chimney or a metal flue with the furnace. Many of those homes have been through two or three heaters already, and the venting has changed along the way.

Moving west past 86th Street and Hickman Road, housing from the 1970s through the 1990s takes over, with larger basements and gas tanks vented through B-vent. Beyond the interstate, the subdivisions that pushed Urbandale into Dallas County are mostly 2000s and newer, with finished lower levels, power-vent heaters or tankless units on the wall, and mechanical rooms framed in tight around the equipment.

Gas and power across Urbandale both come from MidAmerican Energy, so the large majority of Urbandale heaters are gas-fired. Electric tanks are mostly limited to condos and the odd remodeled basement.

Winters, storms and sump pumps

Urbandale's weather is the central Iowa pattern: long freezing stretches with subzero nights, quick spring thaws and violent summer storms. Walnut Creek and its tributaries wind through the city, and heavy rain can raise groundwater around basements near those drainages until sump pumps run constantly. If a pump fails during a storm, the water heater is usually one of the first appliances standing in water.

Wind and snow matter for newer homes, too. Sidewall vents and tankless intakes on north- and west-facing walls beside open fields can ice over or drift shut during a blizzard, which shuts the heater down on a safety switch. Brushing the terminal clear and resetting the unit usually brings the hot water back.

Urbandale repair calls, by frequency

• Scale-coated burners and noisy tanks from years of moderately hard river water settling in the bottom.
• Power-vent blowers and pressure switches failing in the newer homes west of the interstate.
• Draft problems in older east-side ranches after the furnace moved to a high-efficiency, sidewall-vented model.
• Leaks into finished lower levels where the heater sits inside a closet with no drain pan.
• Not enough hot water in winter when the inlet temperature drops into the mid 30s.
• Tankless units losing flow because they have not been descaled on schedule.

Water heater costs in Urbandale

Urbandale prices follow the rest of the Des Moines metro. East-side homes with open, unfinished basements are the least expensive to work in. Finished lower levels in Dallas County subdivisions, where a door frame or shelving may have to come out, and venting corrections in older homes push costs up. Read what an Urbandale tank replacement includes.

Permits and Iowa plumbing licenses

Urbandale's building inspection staff, part of the city's community development department, issue the permit a tank replacement needs and inspect the finished job. The permit covers the whole city, including the parts in Dallas County, so homeowners on the west side deal with Urbandale rather than either county. On site, the inspector checks the T&P discharge line, the gas joint, vent pitch and clearances.

Plumbing licenses here are statewide, issued by Iowa's Plumbing and Mechanical Systems Board under the state licensing department known as DIAL. Gas piping in Iowa falls under the plumbing and mechanical licenses rather than a separate gas fitter card, so the same licensed contractor can usually handle the whole job. Look up the license number on the state's search page before hiring.

Venting in older east Urbandale homes

Many ranches near Douglas Avenue were built with furnace and heater sharing one flue. Once a condensing furnace is piped through the rim joist instead, the heater is stranded by itself in a chimney meant to carry two burners. In a cold Iowa winter that flue can stay too cool to draw, and combustion gas can drift into the basement instead of rising.

A plumber can check this with a draft gauge and a quick smoke test. Fixes run from a correctly sized flue liner to a power-vent heater or a wall-vented tankless model. Carbon monoxide alarms near the basement stairs and in sleeping areas are worth having in any home with gas appliances. Recurring pilot outages are covered under gas valve and pilot fixes for Urbandale.

Keeping an Urbandale heater going longer

Each fall, run several gallons out of the drain valve before the cold water season starts. If the water runs cloudy or full of white grit, keep going until it clears. On tanks older than eight or so that have never been drained, a plumber may advise against forcing a full flush, since loosened sediment can clog the drain valve.

Many Urbandale households add a water softener because of the river water's mineral content. A softener slows scale buildup but can make the anode wear faster, so the rod deserves a look at the same time the softener is serviced. Tankless owners in Urbandale should book a descale every year. More detail is in how hard water wears tanks in Urbandale.

Around Urbandale

Clive to the south buys its water separately and runs its own building permits. Johnston to the north and Grimes to the northwest are growing fast with similar newer homes. Waukee to the west operates its own municipal water system and inspections. Windsor Heights and Des Moines to the east have older housing on Des Moines Water Works supply, each with its own permit office.

Water heater questions from Urbandale