Water Heater Replacement in Arlington, VA

Our office is at 1104D N Quincy St in Ballston, so Arlington is home ground. Arlington water is hard (142 mg/L in the county's 2025 report), half its homes were built before 1980, and replacing a gas water heater here means a county permit and a chimney vent check. We price all of it on one free, itemized estimate.

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Your itemized estimateFree, with every line priced before work starts
  1. The water heaterBrand, model, fuel and size, so you can compare quotes like for like
  2. Drain, disconnect and remove the old unitLabor for the swap
  3. Haul-awayThe old heater leaves with us
  4. Thermal expansion tankWhere your water system needs one
  5. Relief valve discharge pipeRun down to just above the floor
  6. Drain panWhere a leak would damage the room
  7. Gas shutoff and sediment trapGas units only
  8. Vent connectorChecked and replaced if it is undersized or corroded
  9. Water connectionsShutoff valve and connectors
  10. Permit and inspectionWhere the job requires one

Lines your house does not need are left off, and each line that stays has its price beside it.

Arlington at a glance: what affects your water heater

Hard water, older houses, a county permit for gas units and a chimney vent check on every fuel-burning replacement.

Permit
Needed for gas water heaters (Plumbing/Gas permit, Permit Arlington). Not needed, per the county, for an electric replacement of the same type, size and location. See Arlington permits.Source: Arlington County, Plumbing/Gas permits
Water
Arlington County DES delivers Potomac River water treated by the Washington Aqueduct. Total hardness 142 mg/L (8 grains per gallon) in the 2025 report, which is "hard" on the USGS scale.Source: Arlington 2025 Water Quality Report; USGS hardness scale
Gas and power
Washington Gas; Dominion Energy Virginia.Source: Arlington County utilities
Housing
Median home built in 1976; 53% of homes built before 1980; 25% single-family detached and 9% townhouses; 41% owner-occupied. 45% of homes heat with utility gas and 51% with electricity.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year (tables B25034, B25035, B25003, B25024, B25040)
Historic districts
Arlington has 55 local historic districts, including Maywood and garden-apartment districts such as Colonial Village and Buckingham. A new exterior vent there is an exterior alteration and needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board or its staff.Source: Arlington local historic districts

What that means for a replacement in Arlington

Hard water settles as sediment in a tank and as scale in a tankless heat exchanger. At 142 mg/L, a tank benefits from draining now and then, and a tankless unit needs isolation valves so it can be flushed on a schedule. Both go on the estimate when they are missing.

Older Arlington houses often vent a gas water heater into a masonry chimney it shares with the furnace. When the furnace has been replaced with a high-efficiency model that vents through the wall, the water heater can be left alone in a chimney that is now too large for it, which drafts poorly. The county's chimney vent certification exists for exactly this; we look at the vent before we price the job, and a liner or vent change is its own line.

Three in five Arlington homes are rented and many are apartments or condominiums. In a condo, the building's rules on access, water shutoff and anything that goes through an outside wall apply, so tell us the building when you call.

What a replacement includes

The heater, removal and haul-away of the old one, and whatever the house needs to run the new one safely and to code. Each numbered part is a numbered line on the estimate.

Parts of a gas tank water heater installationA gas storage water heater standing in a drain pan. Numbered parts: 1 the water heater, 4 the thermal expansion tank on the cold-water line, 5 the temperature and pressure relief valve and its discharge pipe ending just above the floor, 6 the drain pan, 7 the gas shutoff valve and sediment trap, 8 the vent connector, 9 the cold-water shutoff valve and water connections.
A gas tank install. 1 the heater, 4 expansion tank, 5 relief valve discharge, 6 drain pan, 7 gas shutoff and sediment trap, 8 vent connector, 9 water shutoff and connections.

Where in Arlington

All of Arlington County, about a mile from our office to the center of the county: Ballston, Clarendon, Courthouse, Rosslyn, Virginia Square, Crystal City, Shirlington, Cherrydale, Westover, Lyon Park, Maywood and the Columbia Pike corridor.

ZIP codes 22201, 22202, 22203, 22204, 22205, 22206, 22207, 22209, 22211, 22213 and 22214.

Other areas we install in

AlexandriaCity or county address, hard water, Old Town and Parker-Gray vent rules.FairfaxFairfax County and the City of Fairfax: Reston, McLean, Vienna, Springfield, Chantilly.Falls ChurchCity fuel-gas permit, Washington Aqueduct water, mostly pre-1980 homes.Loudoun CountyAshburn, Sterling, Leesburg. Newer homes, two gas utilities, propane in the west.

Water heater questions from Arlington homeowners

For a gas water heater, yes: Arlington requires a Plumbing/Gas permit and inspections, plus a Chimney Vent Certification. The county says replacing an appliance of the same type, size and location that is not gas does not need a permit.

Get an itemized water heater estimate

Tell us what you have now and what you want next. The estimate is free and itemized.

Service Area

Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church and Loudoun

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