Water heater repair in Richmond, VA

James River water from the city's own plant

Richmond's Department of Public Utilities draws raw water from the James River on the west side of the city, above the fall line rapids, and treats it at its plant along the river before pumping it to homes across Richmond. The city also sells treated water wholesale to Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover counties, so the same James River supply reaches well into the suburbs.

The James drains a large swath of central Virginia, and its chemistry shifts through the year. After big rains in the Blue Ridge and Piedmont the river runs brown with silt, and the plant works harder to remove it. In late summer low flow, mineral content climbs a little. Overall the water ranges from soft to moderately hard, enough that a tank in a Northside basement will collect a gritty mix of scale and fine silt on its bottom over several years.

Richmond tanks benefit from being drained every year or two. Sediment that is allowed to pile up insulates the bottom of a gas tank from the burner, wastes fuel and eventually causes the rumbling and crackling that sends many Richmond homeowners looking for a flush.

Fan District rowhouses and the rest of the city

The Fan District, the Museum District and Oregon Hill are lined with brick rowhouses and attached townhouses built between roughly the 1880s and the 1920s. Many have a low cellar reached by narrow wooden stairs or an outside bulkhead, where the heater stands near a chimney that once served coal stoves. Others had the tank moved upstairs to a closet off the kitchen during a renovation, which saves the cellar trip but puts the heater above finished floors.

Church Hill, Union Hill and Jackson Ward have similar older attached and detached homes, many restored in recent decades. Northside neighborhoods such as Ginter Park, Bellevue and Barton Heights have larger detached houses, foursquares and bungalows with full or partial basements. South of the river, Forest Hill, Westover Hills and Woodland Heights mix bungalows and colonials on hilly lots, and the far Southside and the West End include postwar ranches, some over crawlspaces and some on slabs, that keep the tank in a laundry or utility room.

Getting a 50-gallon tank down a Fan cellar stair, under low joists and around old brick piers is often the hardest part of the job. Plumbers plan for two people and sometimes a smaller-diameter model to fit the opening.

Hot summers, river floods and cold snaps

Richmond summers are long and humid, and older cellars stay damp through August. That dampness rusts gas connectors, flue pipes and the bottom of tanks, especially where the floor never fully dries. A dehumidifier and a raised heater stand go a long way in a Fan or Church Hill cellar.

The James can flood dramatically. Shockoe Bottom and other low areas near the river have seen major floods from hurricane remnants, and the floodwall now protects much of downtown. Heavy cloudbursts can still overwhelm combined sewers in older neighborhoods and send water into cellars. A heater that sat in floodwater needs inspection before use, and a submerged gas control usually means replacement.

Winter is milder than in Northern Virginia, but cold snaps drop river water into the low 40s. A tank that keeps up comfortably in May may run short for a household with teenagers in January, and that is when undersized heaters get noticed.

The problems plumbers see most in Richmond

• Silt and scale buildup from James River water in tanks nobody has drained since installation.
• Cramped cellar replacements under Fan District and Museum District rowhouses.
• Poor chimney draft where a gas heater shares or inherits an old masonry flue.
• Rusted connectors and burner assemblies in damp Church Hill and Oregon Hill cellars.
• Leaking upstairs tanks in renovated rowhouses where the drain pan was skipped.
• Short winter hot water in Northside family homes with the original 40-gallon unit.

Typical water heater prices in Richmond

Utility room swaps in West End or Southside ranches sit at the lower end. Cellar jobs in the Fan, liner work on old brick chimneys and upstairs replacements in renovated townhouses climb toward the top, and street parking in dense neighborhoods adds time.

Richmond permits and Virginia licenses

Within city limits, Richmond's permits and inspections office, part of the Department of Planning and Development Review, issues plumbing, gas and mechanical permits under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code. A water heater replacement normally requires a plumbing permit, plus a gas or mechanical permit when the fuel piping or vent changes. Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover counties handle permits for their own residents.

Virginia's DPOR Board for Contractors licenses both the plumbing firm and its tradesmen. Check that the contractor license carries a plumbing or gas fitting specialty and that the person on site holds a tradesman card. Homes inside Richmond's historic districts generally do not need design review for an indoor heater swap, but a new exterior vent or wall termination on a visible facade may, so ask before choosing a sidewall-vented unit.

Richmond Gas Works and Dominion Energy

Richmond is one of the few large cities in the country that owns its gas utility. Richmond Gas Works, run by the Department of Public Utilities, supplies natural gas inside the city and to parts of Henrico and Chesterfield. If you smell gas around your heater, leave the house and call Richmond Gas Works from outside. A plumber can repair the appliance, but leaks in the service line or meter belong to the utility.

Dominion Energy, headquartered in Richmond, supplies electricity. Gas tanks are the norm in older city neighborhoods, while many suburban ranches and newer apartments run electric. Both the city gas utility and Dominion have offered efficiency programs at times.

For a Fan cellar with limited space and an awkward chimney, a condensing tankless unit hung on the wall removes the old flue problem and frees floor space. A heat pump water heater is a good fit in an unfinished Northside basement, where it also helps tame summer humidity.

Repair or replace in Richmond

A tank on James River water that has been drained now and then typically lasts nine to twelve years. Repairs on a younger heater, such as a thermocouple, igniter, element or relief valve, are usually worthwhile. When a cellar tank is over ten years old and rumbling, rusted at the base, or has been through a flood, water heater replacement is often the better value, especially given the effort it takes to get a failed tank out of a rowhouse.

Around Richmond

Henrico County runs its own water plant on the James and also buys from Richmond, with county permits for Short Pump, Glen Allen and the near West End. Chesterfield County draws on Swift Creek Reservoir and Lake Chesdin, supplemented by Richmond water, and issues permits for Midlothian, Chester and Bon Air. Hanover County, including Mechanicsville and Ashland, has its own utility and inspectors.

Water heater questions from Richmond