Water heater repair in Shreveport, LA

Cross Lake and the Red River

The City of Shreveport's Department of Water and Sewerage draws most of its water from Cross Lake, the reservoir on the city's west side that has supplied Shreveport since the 1920s. When demand is high or lake levels drop, the city can pull from the Red River as well. Raw water is treated at the Amiss plant, which sits near the eastern shore of the lake and has been expanded several times over the past century.

Because it is rainfed lake water, Shreveport's supply runs soft to only slightly hard. Grit settles in a Shreveport tank slowly, nothing like the thick crust West Texas homeowners fight. The bigger seasonal change is temperature: lake water in late summer can arrive in the 80s, while a January cold front can drop it into the upper 40s for a few weeks.

Residents sometimes notice an earthy taste from Cross Lake in hot months. That comes from algae in the reservoir and does no harm to a water heater, though some people mistake the smell for the rotten-egg odor caused by a reacting anode rod.

Old houses and where the heater hides

Shreveport's oil boom of the early twentieth century left behind whole neighborhoods of craftsman bungalows, cottages and Tudor revivals. In Highland, Fairfield, South Highlands and Broadmoor, most of these homes sit on pier-and-beam foundations, and the water heater is often tucked into a hall closet, a back porch that was enclosed decades ago, or a small utility room off the kitchen.

Some older houses moved the heater into the attic during a remodel, which saves floor space but puts a full tank of water over the ceiling. In those homes, a working drain pan and a clear drain line matter a great deal. Post-war ranches in Cedar Grove, Queensborough and Sunset Acres usually place the heater in a carport closet or garage.

Newer subdivisions in Southern Hills, along Ellerbe Road and out toward Shreve Island and Provenance tend to have garage installations, larger tanks and in some cases tankless units vented through an exterior wall.

Northwest Louisiana weather

Shreveport summers are long, hot and humid, and attic temperatures can climb well above 130°F in July. Heaters installed up there wear out plastic drain pans and rubber gaskets faster, and a seeping fitting may drip for weeks before a stain spreads across the ceiling below.

Winters are short but can turn sharp. The February 2021 freeze split pipes all over the city and left much of Shreveport under a boil advisory as the water system lost pressure. Homes on piers are especially exposed, since supply lines run through an open crawlspace where cold air moves freely. Heaters in unheated porch closets can also freeze at the drain valve.

Spring brings severe thunderstorms and occasional tornado warnings, and power outages that follow can knock out electric heaters and the igniters on some newer gas models.

The problems plumbers see most in Shreveport

• Failed thermocouples and pilot assemblies on decades-old gas tanks in closets.
• Attic tank leaks that reach ceilings because the pan drain was never connected.
• Galvanized pipe corrosion at the heater nipples in pre-war homes.
• Poor combustion air in small closets that were sealed up during remodels.
• Frozen crawlspace lines after rare hard freezes.
• Smelly hot water from an anode reacting with warm summer lake water.

Typical water heater prices in Shreveport

Northwest Louisiana labor runs below what plumbers charge in New Orleans or Dallas. Pulling a heater out of an attic, rebuilding a rotten closet floor, or replacing old galvanized piping on the way in are the jobs that push a Shreveport bill higher.

Licensing and permits in Shreveport

In Louisiana, plumbing work is licensed through the Louisiana State Plumbing Board, which issues journeyman and master licenses. A master plumber has to hold the permit for a water heater replacement. The board also regulates the separate water supply protection specialist endorsement, though that matters more for backflow testing than for heaters.

The City of Shreveport issues plumbing permits through its permits and inspections office, and a city inspector checks the vent, gas connection and relief valve line. Bossier City and Caddo Parish outside the city run their own permit offices. It is fair to ask any plumber for their Louisiana license number before the van is unloaded.

Gas service and venting in older homes

CenterPoint Energy supplies natural gas in Shreveport, and SWEPCO provides electricity for most of the city. Many older houses still have gas lines that were installed when the home was built, and a plumber replacing a heater may find corroded fittings or undersized pipe that has to be corrected before a new tank or tankless unit can go in.

Closet heaters in old homes often rely on louvered doors or vents to the attic for combustion air. When owners replace a louvered door with a solid one, or insulate the attic and block those openings, the burner can starve for air. Yellow, lazy flames and soot around the burner door are warning signs. A plumber can add proper air openings or recommend a sealed-combustion model.

Repair or replace in Shreveport

Soft lake water means Shreveport tanks often last longer than average, sometimes twelve years or more. That makes repairs on a heater under ten years old a sensible choice in most cases. When a tank in an attic or a closet over a wood floor starts weeping from the seams, replace it right away, because the cost of floor and ceiling damage quickly outruns the price of a new heater. SWEPCO has offered efficiency programs at times, and those can help with a heat pump model in a garage.

Simple upkeep on Cross Lake water

Flushing a Shreveport tank every couple of years is usually enough to keep sediment in check. More valuable is a yearly look at what surrounds the heater: check that the drain pan is dry, the relief valve pipe runs to the outside or a floor drain, and nothing is stored against the closet louvers.

Before a forecast freeze, insulate exposed lines in the crawlspace and wrap the drain valve on porch heaters. If your home sits on piers, closing the foundation vents for a few cold days helps keep the pipes under the house from freezing.

Around Shreveport

Bossier City across the Red River has its own water system, which draws from the river, and its own inspection office. Blanchard, Greenwood and Keithville are smaller communities in Caddo Parish, with some homes on wells or rural water systems. Benton and Haughton in Bossier Parish have grown fast with newer subdivisions and garage-installed heaters.

Water heater questions from Shreveport