Water Heater Repair

A broken water heater rarely fixes itself, and waiting almost always turns a $200 repair into a $2,000 replacement. We repair tank and tankless water heaters across San Antonio and Houston, and every job starts the same way, with a real diagnosis, not a guess. Here’s what we actually find most often, city by city, and what fixing it runs.

No Hot Water or Lukewarm Water

This is the call we get most, and the cause depends heavily on which city you’re in. In San Antonio, we check the heating element or gas burner first since scale buildup from the hard water insulates them so badly they can’t transfer heat anymore, sometimes on units barely five years old. In Houston, we lean toward checking for a tripped breaker or pilot outage first, especially after storms, since power issues cause more sudden total outages there than anywhere else we work.

How we fix it: Test elements or pilot assembly, flush sediment if that’s the culprit, replace whatever failed. Typically $150 to $400 depending on the part.

Water Heater Leaking

A drip from a fitting or valve is usually an easy fix. Water coming from the tank body itself is a different story, that means the tank has corroded from the inside and no amount of tightening fixes it. We check this first because it changes everything about the recommendation, repair versus replace.

How we fix it: Fitting or valve leaks, $100 to $250. If the tank body itself is leaking, we’ll walk you straight into a replacement conversation since repair isn’t an option at that point.

Rumbling, Popping, or Knocking Noises

Nine times out of ten in San Antonio, that’s sediment hardening at the bottom of the tank, popping as steam bubbles push through the buildup. It’s the single most common noise complaint we get here, more than anywhere else we service, because the water hardness just builds scale that fast.

How we fix it: A flush clears loose sediment, usually around $150. If it’s hardened past what a flush can remove, we’re honest that replacement is the more cost effective route long term.

Rust Colored Water or Metallic Taste

This one shows up more in Houston than San Antonio, thanks to the humidity accelerating corrosion on tank exteriors and internal components. If it’s coming only from the hot side tap, it’s your water heater. If it’s from both hot and cold, check your pipes first, that’s a different problem entirely.

How we fix it: Anode rod replacement if caught early, under $150. If the tank itself has started rusting through, that’s a replacement conversation, not a repair one.

One thing we tell every customer upfront: if the repair estimate starts creeping past half the cost of a new unit, especially on anything over eight years old, we’ll say so plainly. We’d rather lose a repair job than have you pay us twice in one year.