Water Heater Replacement in Old Town Tustin

Square footage is the wrong measure. A 2,000 square foot house with two people and one with five need different tanks. The right size comes from the household's busiest hour, which a tank's first-hour rating measures; for most households a 40 or 50 gallon tank fits, and a replacement of that size is estimated at $1,600 to $2,800 installed.

For a standard tank, estimated totals commonly run from about $1,600 to $2,800 including the unit, the permit, the seismic straps and removal of the old heater. More if the size, fuel or location changes, and considerably more for tankless. Your figure is the one on the written quote.

On a gas tank, a pilot that has gone out, usually because the thermocouple that keeps the gas valve open has failed. On an electric tank, a burned-out heating element or a tripped high-limit switch. On a tankless unit, an ignition fault or a clogged inlet filter. Before any of those, two checks that cost nothing: run a cold tap to make sure the problem is the hot side only, and make sure the valve on the cold line above the heater is fully open. A thermocouple or element repair is typically at the low end of the estimated $150 to $450 repair range.

Usually yes, when the tank is sound and younger than about ten years. Most faults that leave you cold — a thermocouple, an igniter, an element, a thermostat — are single parts in the estimated $150 to $450 range, against roughly $1,600 to $2,800 for a replacement tank. Repair stops making sense in two cases: the tank itself is leaking, which no repair fixes, or the tank is near or past the ten to twelve years a tank typically lasts and needs an expensive part such as the gas control valve. The manufacture date is printed on the label.