Water heater repair in Pittsburgh, PA

From the Allegheny to your basement

Pittsburgh Water, the utility long known as PWSA, draws from the Allegheny River upstream of downtown and treats it at its plant in Aspinwall. From there the water is pumped up to reservoirs and tanks on the high ground, including the Highland Park reservoirs, before it falls back down to neighborhoods through a gravity system that has been patched and extended for more than a century.

The Allegheny carries less dissolved rock than many Midwestern rivers, so Pittsburgh tanks build scale at a moderate pace. What the river does carry changes with the season: spring snowmelt and heavy rain bring silt and cooler, softer water, while low late-summer flows run warmer and a little harder. Homeowners notice the winter side most, when water entering the house can dip into the high 30s and a tank takes noticeably longer to recover.

The utility adds orthophosphate to the water for corrosion control, which forms a thin protective coating inside old pipes. That is good news for lead exposure, and it does not harm a water heater, though fine scale and debris still settle in the tank bottom over the years.

Lead service lines and what they mean for your heater

Like many older cities, Pittsburgh was built with lead service lines connecting homes to the main. Over the past several years Pittsburgh Water has run a large program to find and replace them, digging up thousands of lines across neighborhoods such as Lawrenceville, Hazelwood, Carrick and the Hill District. The program has replaced the public side and, in many cases, the private side up to the house.

Line replacement often stirs up sediment and rust in the old interior plumbing. After a crew finishes on your block, run cold taps for a while before using hot water, and expect a little discoloration. If the heater starts producing brown water or the hot side runs weak, a plumber can flush the tank and check the inlet dip tube and the screens on fixtures. When a new copper or plastic line meets old galvanized pipe in the basement, the transition fittings near the heater are worth a look too.

Steep streets, stairways and basement installs

Pittsburgh has more public stairways than any other American city, and some houses on the South Side Slopes, Polish Hill, Fineview and Troy Hill can only be reached on foot. Even where there is a street, it may be a cobbled grade too steep for a delivery truck in snow. Moving a new 50-gallon tank in and the old one out sometimes means a dolly, two people and a long carry.

Most of the city's houses are brick or frame two- and three-story homes built before 1940, with stone or block basements dug into the slope. In Bloomfield, Lawrenceville and Polish Hill the rowhouses are narrow and the basement stair is steep. In Squirrel Hill, Shadyside and Point Breeze, larger homes have roomier basements, and some still have old boilers alongside the water heater. Brookline, Beechview and Greenfield mix brick bungalows and frame homes, many with a walkout basement on the downhill side.

The problems plumbers see most in Pittsburgh

• Rusty hot water after Pittsburgh Water crews replace a lead line on the block and loosen debris in old galvanized pipe.
• Long carries on the Slopes where a tank has to come down a public stairway or a snowy cobbled grade.
• Clay-tile and masonry chimney trouble in Lawrenceville and Bloomfield rowhouses once a furnace no longer shares the flue.
• Basement seepage in hillside houses that rusts heater bases and drain valves.
• Slow recovery in January when Allegheny water arrives near 40 °F and the family shares one 40-gallon tank.
• Failed thermocouples and pilot assemblies on older gas tanks in rental duplexes around Oakland.

Typical water heater prices in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh prices land close to the middle of the country for most repairs. Hillside access, an old chimney that needs a liner, and a gas line too small for a tankless unit are what move a quote up. Our page on a full tank swap explains what a typical quote should cover.

Allegheny County licensing and permits

With no statewide plumbing license in Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh the job falls to the Allegheny County Health Department. Its plumbing program issues master and journeyman plumber licenses that apply across the county, and it handles plumbing permits and inspections for water heater replacements in the city and most surrounding municipalities.

Before hiring, ask to see the plumber's Allegheny County master plumber license and confirm that the company will register the job with the Health Department so an inspector looks at the gas line, the vent connection and the relief valve piping. A license from another Pennsylvania city does not carry over into Allegheny County, which matters if you hire someone based outside the county.

Peoples Gas, Duquesne Light and choosing a fuel

Natural gas in most of the city comes through Peoples Gas, and electricity through Duquesne Light. Gas tanks remain the default in Pittsburgh basements, because gas is widely available and the houses were built around chimneys. Both utilities have offered efficiency programs at times, so check their current offers before choosing a high-efficiency gas model or a heat pump unit.

A heat pump water heater can do well in a large Squirrel Hill basement, where it also dehumidifies a space that tends to stay damp. In a cramped Polish Hill cellar the unit may not get enough air, and the bigger question is often whether a power-vented gas tank can be routed out the wall when the chimney is no longer usable.

Keeping a Pittsburgh tank going

Drain a few gallons from the valve in spring and again after any nearby water main or lead line work, since that is when debris tends to arrive. If the water runs clear quickly, the tank is in good shape. If it stays brown, or the burner crackles as it fires, a sediment flush is overdue.

Keep the floor around the heater dry and clear so you notice a drip early, especially in a basement that takes on water after storms. Most gas tanks in the city last ten to twelve years; replacing the anode once in the middle of that span is inexpensive and often adds a couple of years.

Fix or replace in a Pittsburgh house

If the tank itself is sound, a failed pilot, gas valve or thermostat is a reasonable repair at almost any age under ten. Once water seeps from the steel shell itself, no repair will hold, and the only question is how quickly to replace it. See our leak guide for which drips are fittings and which are the tank.

Where access is hard, as on a stairway-only lot in Fineview, it makes sense to replace an aging heater on a dry fall weekday rather than in a February emergency. That gives time to sort out the chimney or vent and pull the county permit without rushing.

Around Pittsburgh

Allegheny County licensing covers most nearby suburbs, but water supply varies. Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park and much of the South Hills get water from Pennsylvania American Water. Penn Hills and Wilkinsburg are served by the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority. Ross, McCandless and other northern communities are supplied by the West View Water Authority. Outside the county, Cranberry Township in Butler County and towns in Westmoreland and Washington counties follow their own local permit and licensing rules.

Water heater questions from Pittsburgh