Water heater repair in Rochester, NY

Two water systems, two lakes

The City of Rochester owns two of the smaller Finger Lakes, Hemlock and Canadice, about thirty miles south of downtown. Water from Hemlock Lake is filtered at the Hemlock plant at the north end of the lake and flows north by gravity through large conduits to city reservoirs such as Cobbs Hill and Highland. That arrangement has supplied city homes for well over a century.

Most of the surrounding towns, including Greece, Gates, Henrietta, Penfield and Webster, are served by the Monroe County Water Authority, which draws primarily from Lake Ontario and treats it at plants along the lakeshore. Some neighborhoods near the city line can receive a blend. Both supplies fall in the moderately hard range, with Lake Ontario water often a little harder than Hemlock water, so expect some sediment in tanks and periodic descaling on tankless units.

Your water bill tells you which system you are on. It matters mostly for tankless owners deciding how often to descale; for a standard tank, either source calls for an occasional flush.

Rochester houses and where heaters sit

Rochester's city neighborhoods are dominated by wood-frame houses from the 1880s through the 1930s, nearly all with full basements. In the 19th Ward, Park Avenue, Swillburg, the South Wedge, Highland Park and North Winton Village, the heater usually stands near the gravity-converted furnace or boiler, often on a slab poured over an older dirt or stone floor. Many of these homes have fieldstone or block foundations that seep in spring.

Doubles, the city's upstairs-downstairs two-family houses, are common in Maplewood, Beechwood and around the Marketview Heights area. Each flat may have its own tank, or a landlord may have one heater serving both. Out in Irondequoit, Brighton, Pittsford and Greece, postwar ranches, capes and colonials keep the same basement layout, with a little more headroom and easier access.

Snow belt winters and what they do to heaters

Rochester sits on the south shore of Lake Ontario and gets lake-effect bands that can dump a foot of snow overnight, with seasonal totals that often approach a hundred inches. For water heaters the effects are indirect but real. Incoming water stays cold for months, basements near outside walls get chilly, and heavy snow or ice can block the outdoor terminals of direct-vent and tankless units.

If you have a sidewall-vented heater, keep the intake and exhaust pipes clear after every storm, including drifts pushed up by the plow or the snowblower. A blocked terminal will shut a modern heater down on a safety lockout, and an unexplained "no hot water" call after a storm is often solved with a shovel. On older atmospheric heaters, strong winter wind across a short chimney can also cause downdrafts that blow out the pilot.

The problems plumbers see most in Rochester

• Pilot outages on windy January nights when gusts push down short city chimneys.
• Snow-blocked sidewall vents on direct-vent and tankless units after lake-effect storms.
• Sediment buildup in tanks fed by moderately hard Lake Ontario water in the suburbs.
• Spring seepage through old fieldstone foundations that rusts the heater base and gas connector.
• One heater for both flats in a double, leaving the second shower lukewarm.
• Failed thermostats and elements on electric tanks in houses where gas was never run to the basement.

Typical water heater prices in Rochester

Rochester's labor rates are moderate for New York State and well below downstate. Winter emergencies, tight basement stairs in older city houses and chimney work are what most often push a job toward the upper end.

Plumbing licenses and permits

New York has no statewide plumbing license. The City of Rochester licenses its own plumbers through a local examining board, and water heater replacement within the city requires a permit and inspection through the city's permit office. Monroe County towns run their own building departments, and each sets its own permit process and contractor registration rules.

An experienced Rochester plumber can tell from your street address whether the city or a town issues the permit, and files it with the right office. Inspectors focus on the gas connection and shutoff, the vent and chimney connection, and the relief valve discharge pipe, which should run to within a few inches of the floor.

Gas meters and power lines across the city and most of Monroe County belong to Rochester Gas and Electric, known locally as RG&E. RG&E has run efficiency rebate programs on qualifying water heaters at times; check its website for what is live this season.

Sizing for long Rochester winters

Because the water entering a Rochester house in January can be in the mid 30s, a heater has to raise it seventy degrees or more to reach a comfortable shower temperature. That cuts the effective capacity of a tank significantly compared with summer. A family of four that gets by on a 40-gallon tank from May to October may run out every morning from December to March.

For most households, stepping up to fifty gallons of gas-fired storage, or a tank with a beefier burner, is the sensible floor. If you are considering tankless, make sure it is sized for winter flow at a large temperature rise, and be prepared for gas pipe upgrades in older homes where the original line was sized for a small tank and a furnace. Our tankless repair page covers what to check when an existing unit cannot keep up.

Keeping a Rochester heater healthy

Once the snow is gone each spring, and before basement humidity peaks, run a few gallons out of the drain valve so sediment never hardens into a crust over the burner. On Lake Ontario water in the suburbs, a fuller flush every year is reasonable; on Hemlock water in the city, every eighteen months to two years is usually enough.

Check the floor around the heater after the spring thaw, when old foundations let water in. Puddles that sit against the base of the tank or the gas connector cause rust that shortens the heater's life. A small concrete pad or a plastic stand keeps the bottom dry, and a battery leak alarm costs less than a single service call.

If an older tank begins to knock or pop when the burner fires, the sediment layer is likely thick. Our rumbling tank guide explains what a flush can and cannot fix.

Around Rochester

Greece, Gates and Chili are on Monroe County Water Authority Lake Ontario water and run their own town building offices. Irondequoit and Webster, strung along the bay and the Ontario shoreline, often catch the strongest lake-effect bands in the county. Brighton, Pittsford and Henrietta to the south have larger postwar homes with roomier basements, while Fairport and East Rochester are villages with their own permit desks.

Water heater questions from Rochester