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Hot Water · Repair & ReplaceHot showers, back today
Water heater repair in Burlington, Oakville and Hamilton runs $150–$800; a tank-for-tank replacement is $1,200–$2,500 installed and takes 2–4 hours. A tank leaking from the bottom is finished — shut the cold inlet and the gas valve or breaker, then call. Everything else is usually a part.
Water heater service covers gas and electric tanks, power-vent and direct-vent units, rental buyouts, and the switch to tankless. Most tanks here are 40 or 50 gallon gas units: older ones share the masonry chimney with the furnace, while 2000s builds in Alton Village and Waterdown run a power-vent out the rim joist. Which type you own decides half the replacement quote before we arrive.
The parts that fail: the thermocouple when the pilot won't stay lit ($150–$300 to replace), the gas control valve when the pilot lights but the burner never fires ($400–$600), the lower element on an electric tank when every tap runs lukewarm ($200–$400 replaced), and the dip tube when a full tank runs out in minutes. Lake Ontario water is hard enough to pile sediment on the tank bottom — the rumble you hear at each burner cycle — and well water in Flamborough is harder still, which is why anode rods here die young.
The visit starts with the $90–$150 diagnostic: pilot and flame, thermocouple output, elements and thermostats, the T&P relief valve, the flue draft, and the tank seams. Under 8 years old, repair almost always wins; past 12 with a bottom leak, the steel has rusted through and no part brings it back. Both prices go on one sheet.
A swap takes 2–4 hours, haul-away included. In pre-war Hamilton and Roseland houses the chimney is the catch: once a high-efficiency furnace vents out the wall, the water heater sits orphaned on a flue built for two appliances and often needs a liner or a power-vent model to draft safely — we check before quoting. And if you rent, run the numbers first: $25–$45 a month becomes $4,500–$8,000 over 15 years, two to four times the $1,500–$3,000 price of owning the same tank (rent or buy in Ontario).
Call us when
- Water under the tank — a bottom leak ends the tank; a drip at the top fittings or T&P valve is a repair
- The pilot lights but won't stay lit — usually a thermocouple
- Every tap runs lukewarm — a lower element, dip tube or thermostat
- Rumbling or popping at each burner cycle — sediment; a flush may buy years
- Hot water smells like rotten eggs — an anode reacting with the water, common on Flamborough wells
How it works
If water is on the floor, we walk you through the cold-water shutoff on top of the tank and the gas valve or breaker before we arrive, so the basement stops filling.
Thermocouple, valve, elements, anode and flue checked; the repair price and the replacement price written side by side so the decision is arithmetic, not pressure.
Most tank swaps run 2–4 hours, and hot water is back as soon as the new tank reheats. Book it.
Brands: We service Rheem, Bradford White, John Wood, A.O. Smith, GSW, Rinnai and Navien equipment.
Common questions
How long do water heaters last in Ontario?
Gas tanks: 8–12 years on lake water, often less on the harder well water north of the Escarpment, where sediment and anode wear run faster. Tankless: 15–20 years with an annual descale. The serial number on the rating plate encodes the manufacture year — check it before paying to fix a tank that's already at the end. How long a water heater lasts.
Can I buy out my rented water heater?
Usually — see the rental buyout service — and the buyout price falls as the tank ages. Get the figure from your contract before the tank fails and compare it against $1,200–$2,500 for a new owned tank. A rental also complicates a sale: the buyer inherits the contract or someone pays it out at closing — selling a house with a rented water heater covers that trap.
Tank or tankless?
Tank wins on upfront cost and simplicity: $1,200–$2,500 installed against $3,500–$6,500 for a tankless conversion with its venting and gas-line work. Tankless wins for four-plus-person households that outrun the tank, on lifespan, and on floor space. A one-person condo is a tank home. Tankless vs tank compared.
My water is lukewarm — is that a repair?
Usually. Electric: the lower element ($200–$400 replaced) or its thermostat. Gas: a thermostat set low after service, or a burner starved by sediment. A cracked dip tube sends cold inlet water straight to the hot outlet and is a small part. Lukewarm plus a bottom leak, though, is the tank itself.
What temperature should the tank be set to?
Store at 60°C so Legionella bacteria can't grow in the tank, and temper delivery with a mixing valve — the Ontario Building Code limits water at new showers and tubs to 49°C. Turning the tank itself down to 49°C is the common mistake: it saves little gas and shrinks your usable hot water, since less cold gets blended at the tap.