Lakewood's water depends on which of its roughly 21 providers serves your street. Your water bill tells you which one.
Lakewood water heaters at a glance
| Water provider | About 21, including Denver Water, Consolidated Mutual, Green Mountain, Bancroft-Clover, and Alameda. Your water bill shows which one serves you. |
|---|---|
| Water hardness | Denver Water areas averaged about 105 mg/L in 2025 (55–124). Consolidated Mutual doesn't publish a figure. |
| Homes | Median year built 1977 |
| Elevation | About 5,519 feet (USGS reference point) |
| For your water heater | Moderate scale. A yearly flush and an anode check every few years keep a tank close to its rated life. |
Sources: Lakewood water and sewer provider list · Denver Water 2026 water quality report · Census ACS 2019–2023 via Point2Homes · USGS elevation. Checked October 2026.
What Lakewood's water does to a water heater
When water is heated, the calcium and magnesium in it drop out as sediment and settle on the bottom of the tank. The burner or lower element then has to heat through that layer, so the heater runs longer, pops and rumbles, and wears faster. About 21 providers serve Lakewood, and where Denver Water supplies the water it averaged about 105 mg/L of hardness in 2025 (about 6 grains per gallon). Moderate scale. A yearly flush and an anode check every few years keep a tank close to its rated life.
Ranches, split-levels, and Belmar townhomes
Lakewood's ranches and split-levels usually keep the water heater in a basement utility room or a lower-level closet, and the originals are long gone. Around Belmar and in the newer townhome developments, the issue is different: builder-grade heaters that went in at the same time are reaching the end of their life together, often in tight closets where a leak goes straight into the unit below. If yours is in a closet, a drain pan piped to a drain is cheap insurance.
Repair or replace?
Under about eight years old, with a failed part like a thermocouple, gas valve, heating element, or thermostat, a repair usually makes sense. At about ten years or older, or with any leak from the tank itself, replacement is the better money: a leaking tank can't be fixed. You get the price before any work starts, and most replacements are done the same day they're quoted, with the old unit hauled away. A replacement is also the time to check whether you need an expansion tank (when one is required).
Gas or electric, tank or tankless
We repair and replace both gas and electric water heaters, standard tanks and tankless units. Tankless works well at this hardness. Descale it about once a year so scale doesn't choke the heat exchanger.
At about 5,519 feet (Lakewood's USGS reference point), a gas water heater has to be rated for the altitude, and a tankless heater set for it at installation. That's above 5,400 feet, where Rinnai and Navien change their tankless settings, though elevations vary across the city. What to check at altitude.
Make the next one last
- Flush the tank once a year to clear sediment
- Check the anode rod every few years
- Descale a tankless unit about once a year
- Know where the cold-water shutoff on top of the heater is, and how to turn the heater off, before you need to
More reading: water heater leaking? what to do, no hot water troubleshooting, how long water heaters last in Colorado, why a water heater pops or rumbles, and water hardness by city. If your water is hard, a softener protects the heater and every fixture.
Recent water heater work
Photos from our own jobs. Locations and customer details are left out.
More in Lakewood: backflow testing in Lakewood · all plumbing services in Lakewood