Most water heaters give you warning before they quit outright — a pilot that won't hold, a tank that's rumbling, water that's gone lukewarm halfway through a shower. Whether that means a repair or a new unit depends on the age of the tank, what's actually wrong, and what it's costing you to keep patching it. We look at the unit, tell you which one it is, and quote it straight.
Repair or replace — how do you tell?
A water heater under eight years old with a failed thermocouple, a bad element, a tripped high-limit switch, or a leaking supply line is usually a repair. The tank itself is sound; one part failed. We fix those in a single visit most of the time.
A tank past ten to twelve years old that's leaking from the tank itself — not a fitting, the tank — is done. Once the steel liner goes, it's going, and no fitting or anode swap brings it back. Same with a tank that's rusting from the bottom or has been sediment-choked for years and is now short-cycling or failing to heat. At that point we're talking replacement, and we'll say so rather than sell you a patch job on a tank that's going to leak again in six months anyway.
For tankless units, most service calls are a scale-related flow or ignition problem, not a dead unit — tankless heat exchangers last a long time if they're descaled, and often don't if they're not.
When people actually call
- No hot water, or hot water that runs out fast — usually a failed element, a bad gas valve, or a tank too small or too worn to keep up anymore.
- A tank actively leaking onto the floor — this is an emergency call, not a schedule-it-for-next-week call. See our emergency plumbing page if it's active water right now.
- Rumbling, popping, or banging from the tank — usually sediment buildup, common with Portland's water.
- Discolored or rusty hot water — often a dying anode rod or a tank that's starting to corrode from the inside.
- Planning ahead — a tank that's ten-plus years old, before it fails on its own schedule instead of yours.
- A remodel or new bathroom that needs more hot water capacity than the current tank can deliver.
How the visit goes
We look at the tank or tankless unit, the venting, the gas or electrical connection, and the water lines in and out. If it's a repair, we tell you what's wrong and what it takes to fix it. If it's a replacement, we talk through tank versus tankless and gas versus electric based on what you have to work with — venting, gas line size, electrical panel capacity, and space — not just what's cheapest to install.
Replacement work in Oregon on plumbing systems generally means a permit and an inspection. We handle that as part of the job rather than leaving it for you to sort out afterward.
What affects the cost
- Repair versus full replacement, and whether the old unit's connections (gas line, venting, water lines) meet current code or need updating to pass inspection.
- Tank size and type — a standard 40-50 gallon tank swap is the simplest job; going tankless usually means new venting and often a bigger gas line, which adds labor.
- Gas versus electric, and whether you're switching fuel types (electric to gas, or the reverse) rather than swapping like for like.
- Access — a water heater in an easy garage spot costs less to service than one wedged in a crawlspace or an upstairs closet.
- Permit and inspection requirements for the specific replacement.
- Whether it's an emergency same-day call or a scheduled visit.
We don't publish a price list because these variables change the job too much for a number on a page to mean anything — we quote it after we've actually seen the unit and the space.
What's specific to Portland houses and water
A lot of Portland-metro housing stock — the bungalows and foursquares inside the city, the split-levels and ranches out in the suburbs built through the 70s and 80s — still has original or once-replaced water heaters in tight closets, garages, or crawlspaces with venting that was fine when it was installed and isn't always up to current code now. Older homes especially can have galvanized supply lines feeding the tank, which complicates a straight swap.
Portland's water is moderately soft compared to a lot of the country, which is good news for scale — but sediment still settles in tanks over years, especially ones that have never been flushed, and that sediment is behind a lot of the rumbling-tank and slow-recovery calls we get. Basements and crawlspaces here also stay damp through the wet months, which speeds up corrosion on tanks and fittings that are already marginal.
If you're in an older Portland or inner-eastside home with a gas water heater in a small closet, venting clearances and combustion air are usually the thing that decides whether a straight swap works or the job needs modification — that's something we check before we quote it, not after.
Why Sheltons Construction
We're a licensed Oregon plumbing contractor working the Portland metro — Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties, and down I-5 to Salem for bigger or scheduled jobs. We do the repair when a repair is the honest answer and the replacement when it isn't, and we tell you which one it is before we start, not after. Permits and inspections are part of the job, not an add-on we mention at the end.
What to do now
If you've got an actively leaking tank or no hot water and it can't wait, call — see emergency plumbing for what to do before we get there, including whether to shut the water off. If you're planning a replacement or just want a second opinion on a repair quote, contact us and we'll come look at it. General questions about how we work are answered on our FAQ page.
We serve Portland and the surrounding metro — Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham, Tigard, Tualatin, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Oregon City, Milwaukie, Happy Valley, Clackamas, Wilsonville, Troutdale, Sherwood — and Salem for larger or scheduled work.