Water heater repair and replacement in Centreville.
Water heater repair and replacement in Centreville, 20120 and 20121, gas or electric, tank or tankless, with the permit and expansion tank in the price.
A new water heater installed with the permit runs $2,757 to $5,493 for an electric tank, $3,379 to $5,485 for gas or propane and $8,886 to $10,486 for tankless. The water heater estimator gives your exact number.
- Permit and expansion tank included
- Tank or tankless
- Dedicated plumbing team
Get your water heater priced
Centreville’s water heaters: gas tanks beside the furnace, mostly on their second or third round.
With close to three quarters of Centreville homeowners heating with gas, most water heaters here burn gas too. In a townhouse the tank often stands on the lowest level beside the furnace, sometimes in a closet higher up; in a single-family house it usually shares the utility room with it. The median home went up in 1990, so the tank you have now is rarely the builder’s. It’s the second or third, and the date on its label says how far along this one is.
Watch the flue. Houses of this age usually started with the furnace and the water heater sharing one metal flue. When the furnace was swapped for a high-efficiency model venting out the wall in plastic, the water heater was left alone on a flue sized for both, and a small tank on an oversized flue can draft poorly. The fix is a liner sized for the water heater, or a power vent tank, $5,957 to $7,494 installed, which pushes its exhaust out a side wall through its own pipe.
About a quarter of homes here heat with electricity, and their water heaters are usually electric too. Fairfax County’s appliance permit page is plain about gas: a gas water heater needs a permit and a chimney vent certification even like for like. Converting to tankless with new gas piping makes it a residential plumbing permit instead. On an electric tank the county’s own pages don’t agree, so we don’t promise a swap goes without one. Where a permit is needed, gas or electric, ours is in the price.
Pressure is the other thing wearing on these tanks. Almost every Centreville house went up after Fairfax County started requiring a pressure reducing valve in 1972, and that valve closes the house off from the street, so heated water has nowhere to expand but the tank and its relief valve. That’s what the expansion tank in every replacement we price is for, and why a weeping relief valve here earns a pressure reading.
Centreville houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
Centreville
- Median home built1990 Census
- Built before 1980about 1 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes aretownhouses, about 5 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 7 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 3 in 10 Census
- Most houses here heat with gas, so most water heaters are gas tanks, and replacing one takes a permit even like for like.
- Townhouse water heaters often sit in a closet or an upstairs utility room, where the drain pan and its line are what keep a leak off the ceiling below.
What a new water heater costs in Centreville.
Installed, from our water heater estimator, which is the price book. Everything is in the number: the permit and the inspection, the expansion tank, the drain pan, hauling the old one away, and the labor.
- Electric tank, installed$2,757 to $5,493
- Gas or propane tank, installed$3,379 to $5,485
- Power vent tank, installed$5,957 to $7,494
- Tankless, installed$8,886 to $10,486
How the house vents picks the row; where you land inside it is the tank size and the warranty. A hybrid heat pump water heater is quoted at the visit, never from a page.
Keeping the one you have? A yearly water heater flush slows the sediment down: $99 right now, normally $199. A tankless descale is $300, regularly $350. Or get the flush every year with Comfort+ membership, $199 a year, along with a dryer vent cleaning, a sewer camera inspection and heating and cooling maintenance visits.
What a failing water heater in Centreville usually does.
Rust or soot around the top of the tank
If the furnace beside it was replaced and the water heater now vents alone, look at the draft hood on top. Rust streaks, soot or water drops there can mean exhaust is spilling instead of going up the flue. Turn the gas control on the tank to off and call.
The pilot won’t stay lit
On a gas tank that’s usually the thermocouple or the gas valve, both repairs. A burner that lights but smells of exhaust is different: shut it off and call.
Water on the floor around it
A drip from a valve can be fixed. Water from the tank itself can’t; once the lining goes, the only fix is a new heater, and sooner beats later.
After a storm in Centreville, check the water heater.
A water heater usually sits on the lowest floor of the house, so it’s one of the first things standing water reaches. Three checks, then call us.
Water reached the burner or the gas controls
Leave it off and don’t relight it. The warning label on a gas water heater says not to use it if any part has been under water, and to have a service technician replace the gas control.
An electric tank sat in water
Shut its breaker off at the panel, but only from somewhere dry. The elements and the thermostats get checked before it heats again.
Water around it after the rain stopped
Mop it up and look again in an hour. Water that comes back with no rain is the tank or a valve, not the storm.
Call us after a storm and we’ll check it: the gas control or the elements, the burner, the venting and the drain pan. If it has to be replaced, you get the price in writing before anything comes out.
Who signs off on a new water heater in Centreville.
Fairfax County
Virginia lets emergency replacement work start first, with the permit application in by the end of the next working day. Source.
Fairfax Water promises 20 psi at the main and no uniform pressure, and the pressure reducing valve on your side of the meter is yours to buy and keep up. Over 80 psi, the Virginia Residential Code calls for one, and an expansion tank with it. Source.
How to pick the best water heater installer in Centreville.
Questions worth asking anybody who quotes you, us included.
Do they check the draft before hooking a new tank to the old flue?
In a Centreville house whose furnace went high-efficiency, the water heater may be venting alone on a flue built for two. A good installer tests the draft before connecting a new tank to it, and tells you whether it needs a liner or a power vent instead.
Is the permit in the price?
A gas water heater always needs a permit, an electric one often does, and skipping it tends to surface when the house sells. Ask whether the quote includes it and the inspection.
Is there an expansion tank in the quote?
Most houses here have a check valve or a pressure reducer on the incoming line, so the heated water has nowhere to go. An expansion tank gives it somewhere, and leaving it out is how quotes come in low.
Will they tell you when a repair will do?
A thermocouple, an element or a valve is a repair, not a new heater. A good plumber says so, and saves the replacement talk for a leaking tank.
What our customers say.
Jim was very professional, knowledgeable and polite plumber. He installed a water heater for us. After the installation he educated us on the maintenance and the new set up. I strongly recommend Jim/SwiftPro. Plus SwiftPro price was very reasonable/20% below other estimates.
5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Water heater questions from Centreville.
Does an electric water heater need a permit in Centreville?
It can. Fairfax County’s appliance permit page points to the Virginia Residential Code, which exempts replacing an appliance that isn’t fueled by gas or oil, but the county’s when a permit is required page lists the direct replacement of a water heater as permit work. Where the county wants one, it’s in our price. A gas water heater has no such question: a permit and a chimney vent certification, every time.
Can a Centreville townhouse go tankless?
Often, if there’s an outside wall close by for the vent and the gas line can carry the load. If it can’t, a bigger line goes in under a Fairfax County residential plumbing permit. A tankless unit runs $8,886 to $10,486 installed, against $3,379 to $5,485 for a gas tank on the flue you have, and the visit settles whether yours qualifies before any number is final.
How hard is Centreville’s water on a water heater?
Hard enough to matter. Fairfax Water rates its water moderately hard to hard, and across its plants in 2025 the readings spanned 3 to 10.8 grains per gallon, enough to leave a layer of sediment at the bottom of the tank each year. A yearly flush clears it out while the tank is young enough to be worth it.
How much is a new water heater in Centreville?
Installed, with the permit, the expansion tank, the pan and the haul-away: an electric tank $2,757 to $5,493, a gas or propane tank on the flue you have $3,379 to $5,485, a power vent tank $5,957 to $7,494, and a tankless unit $8,886 to $10,486. The estimator gives your exact number in about a minute.
Water heaters in the towns next door.
- Water heaters in Chantilly
- Water heaters in Clifton
- Water heaters in Catharpin
- Water heaters in Manassas
- Water heaters in Fairfax
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Tell us how old yours is.
Call, or book online and pick a window. The age on the label and what it’s doing tell us most of what we need, and you get the price before anything comes out.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Centreville and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, 4230 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151, (703) 997-9757. Book online, read our reviews, or see every town we serve.