Water heater repair in Longview, TX

Three lakes and a river

The City of Longview treats all of its own water, and none of it comes from wells. Lake Cherokee, a privately owned reservoir southeast of town built in the 1940s, has been a source for decades and feeds the city's Cherokee treatment plant. Water from the Sabine River, which runs along the south edge of the city, is treated at the Sabine plant. Lake O' the Pines, a large Army Corps of Engineers reservoir to the north, sends water to a plant in the Judson area that uses ozone as its main disinfectant.

That arrangement gives Longview reliable supply and relatively soft water. East Texas surface water picks up little calcium from its sandy, forested watersheds, so Longview tanks collect only light sediment. The catch is that this low-mineral supply eats through the magnesium rod that protects a glass-lined Longview tank. When that rod is used up, the steel shell starts to rust, and leaks often follow within a couple of years.

Some homes outside city limits, in places like Hallsville, White Oak or rural Gregg and Harrison counties, rely on water supply corporations or private wells. Rural wells in that area may run harder or iron-stained, coating a tank with reddish silt instead.

Oil boom houses, Pine Tree ranches and newer subdivisions

Longview's older neighborhoods, near downtown and around the LeTourneau University campus, have wood-frame and brick homes from the oil boom era and the decades after. A good number rest on piers over an open crawlspace, and their heaters stand in a closet off the hallway, on a screened back porch, or in a stand-alone garage at the end of the driveway. Gas lines and water pipes running under these houses are vulnerable to freezing and to damage from animals and moisture.

The Pine Tree area on the west side and neighborhoods around Spring Hill to the north filled with brick ranch homes from the 1960s through the 1980s, mostly slab-built, with tanks parked beside the car or off the laundry. Newer subdivisions off Loop 281 and toward Hallsville have larger homes, where the tank frequently went up into the attic or out to the garage, and some newer homes have tankless gas units.

Attic installations are common in East Texas and bring their own problems: a leak in the attic can damage ceilings below, and service access in summer heat is hard on both the heater and the plumber. An August attic over a Longview ranch can top 130°F, which also bakes the plastic parts on a heater's gas valve and drain fittings.

Ice storms and freezing weather

Longview's winters are usually mild, but ice storms come through every few years, coating pine trees until limbs snap and bring down power lines. Outages can last for days in the worst storms. The February 2021 freeze, which hit all of Texas, was especially hard on Longview homes with crawlspace plumbing and attic heaters.

When temperatures drop well below freezing, pipes in crawlspaces and attics are at risk, and a split line near the heater can flood a closet or ceiling. Electric heaters stop working during outages, and gas heaters with electronic ignition may also go down. Older standing-pilot gas tanks keep working without power, which some Longview residents value during storms. After the lights come back, check that the pilot is still lit and that no line near the tank froze and cracked while the house sat cold.

The problems plumbers see most in Longview

• Depleted anode rods in soft-water tanks, leading to rust and leaks.
• Frozen and split lines in crawlspaces and attics after ice storms.
• Attic heater leaks that damage ceilings in newer homes.
• Sulfur odor from the hot side when a magnesium anode reacts with the water.
• Thermocouples that quit on standing-pilot tanks in 1970s Pine Tree homes.
• Rusted heaters in damp porch closets and detached garages.

Typical water heater prices in Longview

Longview prices are generally below Dallas and Houston. Attic installs, crawlspace repairs and emergency calls during ice storms tend to cost more.

Permits and licensing in Longview

Longview's Building Inspection Division permits heater changeouts within the city, part of the Development Services Department on South High Street. On attic jobs especially, the inspector looks hard at the pan, the relief line run, the flue and the gas fitting. Homes outside the city may not have local permit requirements, but state law still requires a licensed plumber.

Plumbing licenses in Texas are issued in Austin by the state's examining board, and a master plumber has to stand behind any Longview heater job. Check the license on the board's website before hiring.

Utilities and heater choices

Southwestern Electric Power Company, known as SWEPCO, provides electricity to most of Longview, and the area is outside the state's competitive retail electricity market. CenterPoint Energy supplies natural gas. Both have offered efficiency programs at times.

Gas tanks are common in older Longview homes, while many newer and rural homes use electric tanks. A heat pump model will run in a Longview garage, though cold January lake water and occasional freezes reduce their efficiency and make placement important.

Anode care on soft water

On Longview's soft water, checking the anode rod every few years can extend a tank's life significantly. If the rod is mostly gone, replacing it costs much less than a new tank. Hot water that smells of sulfur usually calms down once the magnesium rod is traded for aluminum-zinc or a powered anode.

Because sediment is light, flushing is less urgent than in hard-water cities, but draining a few gallons each year still helps. Tanks here commonly last 10 to 13 years when the anode is maintained.

Around Longview

Kilgore, southwest on Highway 259, and Gladewater, out along US 80, each treat their own water and inspect their own jobs. White Oak and Hallsville are smaller nearby towns with their own water providers. Marshall lies east along I-20 with a separate utility and building department, and Tyler is about forty minutes west with its own lake supply.

Water heater questions from Longview