Water heater service in Tustin Meadows

About ten to twelve years for a tank, and the label on the side gives its manufacture date. Tankless units generally last longer. In Tustin that number is easy to set against the house: Tustin Meadows was built from 1967, Peppertree from 1973, Tustin Ranch from the mid-1980s and Tustin Legacy from 2006 — which means the first heaters in Tustin Legacy are reaching that age now. The warning signs usually come before failure: hot water running out sooner, rumbling, rust on the hot side, a weep at the base.

Something is taking up or bypassing the tank's capacity. The usual causes are a broken dip tube, which lets incoming cold water mix at the top of the tank; a failed lower element on an electric heater, which leaves only the top section heating; heavy sediment in the bottom of a gas tank; or a tank that is simply too small for the household. Check first that the hot side is the only problem and that the valve above the heater is fully open. Most of these are repairs in the estimated $150 to $450 range; an undersized tank is not.

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.