Cold shower this morning? Water heaters almost never fail at a convenient time. We repair and replace them across Denver and the surrounding metro, usually the same day we quote the job.
Repair or replace — the honest answer
Worth repairing if the unit is under about eight years old and the trouble is a thermocouple, a heating element, a thermostat, or a pilot that won't stay lit. Those are inexpensive parts and a straightforward visit.
Worth replacing if it's ten years or older, if the tank itself is leaking, or if you're getting rust in the hot water. A leaking tank is not repairable — the tank is what's failing.
We'll tell you which side of that line you're on. We'd rather do a small repair you're happy with than sell you a unit you didn't need.
How old is yours?
Find the sticker on the side of the tank. The first four digits of the serial number are usually the manufacture date — often a two-digit year and a two-digit week. Past ten years, start planning the replacement instead of waiting for it to let go on a Sunday night in January.
Colorado hard water shortens tank life
Water in a lot of the metro, especially the northern suburbs, is hard, and hard water is rough on water heaters. Sediment builds on the bottom of the tank, the burner works harder to heat through it, and the anode rod — the sacrificial part that protects the tank lining — gets used up faster than the manufacturer assumed.
Two cheap things extend the life of a tank here: flushing the sediment periodically, and replacing the anode rod before it's fully consumed. Both cost far less than a new unit. If you have a softener, your tank will outlast your neighbor's.
Water heaters by city
How hard your water is decides how fast sediment builds up and how often a tank needs flushing, and it varies a lot across the metro. Here's what each provider's latest report says, with a page for each city:
| City | Water provider | Hardness |
|---|---|---|
| Thornton | City of Thornton | About 13.5 gpg (230 mg/L average in 2025) Very hard |
| Highlands Ranch | Highlands Ranch Water | Typically 11 to 13 gpg Hard to very hard |
| Aurora | Aurora Water | About 8 gpg (136 mg/L average in 2025) Hard |
| Westminster | City of Westminster (Standley Lake) | About 7 to 9 gpg (112–152 mg/L in 2025) Moderately hard to hard |
| Northglenn | City of Northglenn | About 7 gpg (120 mg/L) Moderately hard |
| Commerce City | South Adams County Water & Sanitation | Softened to about 7 gpg (115 mg/L) Moderately hard |
| Parker | Parker Water & Sanitation (most of town) | About 6 gpg (108 mg/L average in 2025) Moderately hard |
| Lone Tree | Southgate (Denver Water) west of I-25, Parker Water east | About 6 gpg (105–108 mg/L average in 2025) Moderately hard |
| Denver | Denver Water | About 6 gpg (105 mg/L average in 2025) Moderately hard |
| Greenwood Village | Denver Water, through local districts | About 6 gpg (105 mg/L average in 2025) Moderately hard |
| Littleton | Denver Water | About 6 gpg (105 mg/L average in 2025) Moderately hard |
| Centennial | Several districts, most delivering Denver Water | About 6 gpg where Denver Water supplies Moderately hard |
| Lakewood | About 21 providers, mostly Denver Water | About 6 gpg where Denver Water supplies Moderately hard |
| Wheat Ridge | Six districts, mostly Denver Water's water | About 6 gpg (Denver Water) Moderately hard |
| Golden | City of Golden (Clear Creek) | About 2 to 10 gpg (40–170 mg/L), with the creek Soft to hard, by season |
| Broomfield | City and County of Broomfield | 1.5 to 7.3 gpg, depending on the blend Soft to moderately hard |
| Arvada | City of Arvada | About 2.5 to 4 gpg (43–65 mg/L in 2025) Soft to moderately hard |
| Boulder | City of Boulder | About 2.4 gpg (42 mg/L) Soft |
From each provider's latest water quality report, checked October 2026. gpg = grains per gallon. Full comparison and sources →
Tankless
Worth considering if you're replacing anyway and your household runs out of hot water. Higher install cost, longer lifespan, endless hot water, smaller footprint on the wall.
It isn't automatically the right call. It depends on your gas line capacity, venting, and where the unit can sit. We'll walk through the actual numbers for your house rather than defaulting to the more expensive option.
Altitude
At about a mile up, a gas water heater has to be rated for the altitude, and a tankless unit has to be set for it when it's installed. Tank ratings vary by model, and tankless settings change at 5,400 feet, a line the metro sits on both sides of. What to check at altitude →
What we service
- Gas and electric tank water heaters
- Tankless and on-demand units
- Pilot light and thermocouple problems
- Heating element and thermostat replacement
- Anode rod replacement
- Sediment flushing
- Thermal expansion tanks (when Denver's code requires one)
- Leaking tanks, relief valves, and drain valves
- Full replacement and haul-away of the old unit
Rebates
For a standard gas or electric tank, or a gas tankless heater, there's no Xcel Energy rebate in 2026, and the federal tax credit ended after 2025. What is still available →
Leaking or no hot water right now?
Start here: water heater leaking? what to do first, and no hot water: what to check. If you smell gas, leave the house and call 911 or Xcel Energy's gas emergency line, 1-800-895-2999, from outside.
Recent water heater work
Photos from our own jobs. Locations and customer details are left out.
From our Google reviews
“Our water heater failed and a friend recommended Gabe. I texted photos to him and [he] sent me a very reasonable quote for the work that was a fraction of the price I had been quoted by a competitor. He was on time and even though a replacement was hard to find, he got the job done quickly.”
“These folks installed a water heater and a house water filter for us—they were very nice and everything looks and works great.”