Water heater repair in Renton, WA

Wells under downtown and a spring on the south hill

Unlike Seattle, which carries Cedar River water in from a protected mountain watershed, Renton gets most of its supply from directly under its own streets. The city's production wells around Liberty Park and Cedar River Park tap the Cedar Valley aquifer, a layer of river-laid sand and gravel that the EPA designated a sole source aquifer decades ago. That designation is why Renton is strict about fuel tanks, spills and anything else that could seep into the ground near the wellfield.

Springbrook Springs, south of the city on the Talbot Hill side, adds spring water, and the Maplewood wells east along the river add more after treatment. The city also maintains interties with Seattle Public Utilities and other neighbors for backup. Depending on where you live, part of your water may come from a separate district such as Skyway, Soos Creek or Cedar River Water and Sewer, so the utility listed on your bill is worth checking before you assume anything about chemistry.

Water from these sources is soft to moderately soft. Renton tanks rarely fill with the crusty white scale that plagues desert cities, and a tankless unit here can usually go a good while between descalings. What the soft water does instead is wear through the magnesium or aluminum anode, after which the tank's glass lining begins to rust from the inside.

From Boeing-era ramblers to Benson Hill subdivisions

The Renton Highlands grew up fast in the 1940s and 1950s, when the Boeing plant beside Lake Washington needed housing for wartime and postwar workers. Many of those modest single-story homes sit on crawlspaces, and their water heaters were tucked into a hallway closet, a laundry alcove beside the kitchen, or a garage bolted on in some later decade. Closet installs are tight, with little room for a modern tank that is wider than the original.

Kennydale, on the slope north of the plant toward Newcastle, mixes older lake-view houses with newer builds squeezed onto view lots. Renton Hill and the North Renton blocks near the airport have some of the oldest housing in town, including homes from the coal-mining and early industrial era that have been replumbed more than once.

Benson Hill, annexed into the city in 2008, and nearby Talbot Hill and Fairwood are mostly 1970s through 2000s split-levels and two-stories. Their heaters typically stand in the garage on a short platform. Newer townhome rows at The Landing and around South Lake Washington stack heaters in small mechanical closets, often electric, sometimes on each floor.

The Cedar River, the 2001 quake and the ground under Renton

The Cedar River runs straight through downtown on its way to Lake Washington, and before the city dredged its lower reach and raised levees, high water regularly spilled into the low neighborhoods and the Boeing grounds. Dredging and levee work have cut that risk, but heavy atmospheric-river storms still push the river up, and gravel keeps settling in the channel between dredging projects. Homes near the river in the valley floor should treat any heater sitting below the garage door threshold as exposed.

On February 28, 2001, the Nisqually earthquake shook the Puget Sound region, damaging brick buildings in Pioneer Square and chimneys across the region. Water heaters that walked off their stands or tore loose from rigid gas pipe in that event are a large part of why Washington inspectors take strapping so seriously. Downtown Renton sits on soft river sediment that shakes harder than the glacial till under the hills, so the quality of a valley install matters.

If a heater on the valley floor ever takes floodwater above its burner or control, replace it rather than trying to dry it out. And after any noticeable quake, look at the flexible gas connector and the vent pipe for kinks or gaps before relighting anything.

What breaks most often on Renton heaters

• Anodes worn to bare wire by soft aquifer water, followed by brown hot water and pinhole leaks.
• Tanks that outgrew their closet in Highlands ramblers, where the replacement will not fit without carpentry.
• Corroded nipples and unions on garage heaters that breathe damp winter air off Lake Washington.
• Missing or single strap installs in older homes that would not pass a seismic inspection now.
• Weeping relief valves where the PRV at the meter traps expanding water and nobody ever added an expansion tank.
• Failed electric elements in townhome closet units, often after a dry-fire during a water shutoff.

What Renton homeowners typically pay

Renton labor costs track the rest of south King County, which is well above the national median. Closet installs in the Highlands that need the doorway widened, steep Kennydale driveways and the code upgrades an inspector will require on an older garage setup are what push a bill toward the high end.

Renton permits and Washington certification

Anyone plumbing a water heater in Washington must carry a state plumbing certificate issued by L&I, and the company they work for must also hold an L&I contractor registration. Both can be checked on L&I's Verify a Contractor site in about a minute, and the bond and insurance status shows up there as well.

In city limits, the permit comes from the Renton permit center at City Hall on South Grady Way, run by the Community and Economic Development department. During the Renton inspection, expect a look at the pair of seismic straps, the pan and its drain, the relief line termination, combustion air, the vent and the gas shutoff. Homes in unincorporated Fairwood or Skyway get their permits from King County instead, so the street address alone does not settle who inspects the job.

Fitting a new tank into a Highlands closet

Today's tanks carry thicker insulation than the units built in the 1960s, so a 40-gallon heater bought now can be a couple of inches wider than the one it replaces. In a narrow hall closet that may mean trimming the door frame, choosing a tall-and-slim model, or moving to a smaller-footprint option. Some Highlands owners use a remodel as a chance to move the heater to the garage entirely, which also makes the next replacement simpler.

Gas units in closets also need enough combustion air, and older louvered doors are sometimes the only air supply. If someone replaced a louvered door with a solid one during a remodel, the heater can starve for air and soot up. A plumber should check for that before signing off on any closet replacement.

Choosing between gas, electric and heat pump

Puget Sound Energy supplies both gas and electricity across Renton, and it has at times put rebate money toward heat pump and efficient gas units, so check what PSE lists this year before buying. Benson Hill garages make a good home for heat pump models, since their air seldom stays below freezing for long; the catch is that the unit needs breathing room and gives off a low hum some owners hear through a bedroom wall.

Since the water from the downtown wells arrives near 50°F year round, a tankless gas heater does not need to be oversized for a brutal winter the way it would in Minneapolis. The tradeoff is venting: a tankless unit needs its own sealed vent and often a larger gas line, which can be harder to route from an interior closet than from a garage wall.

Keeping a heater alive on soft Renton water

On Renton's soft supply, the anode rod is what decides how long a tank lasts. A plumber pulling and inspecting it somewhere in years four through six, and swapping it once it is mostly gone, can keep a Highlands tank going years past the point where it would have rusted out. If the hot water starts to smell like sulfur, a powered or aluminum-zinc anode often clears it up.

Draining a few gallons from the bottom once a year is still worth doing, mostly to keep the drain valve working and to catch any grit from well maintenance or main breaks. Once a heater is beyond its tenth year and shows rusted fittings or a damp pan, put the money toward a replacement that meets current code instead of a repair.

Around Renton

Newcastle to the north is served mainly by Coal Creek Utility District and issues its own permits. Tukwila to the west runs its own city water and building office, and Kent to the south has its own springs, wells and permit center. Fairwood and Skyway are unincorporated, so King County Permitting handles their work, and their water comes from Cedar River and Skyway districts. Maple Valley and Issaquah, farther out, each have separate city permit desks.

Water heater questions from Renton