Heating, cooling and plumbing in Waterford, the old Quaker mill village and the farms around it.
Waterford’s village runs on private wells and a 1970s public sewer; propane heats over half of 20197. A tank water heater, installed: $2,757 to $7,494.
- Prices in writing, first
- Dedicated HVAC and plumbing teams
- Virginia license #2705192276
Get your price in writing
Federal brick, log and fieldstone in the village; 1990s houses on the lots around it.
Nearly one home in four in ZIP 20197 was built before 1940, and the Census estimate finds none at all from the 1940s, 50s or 60s. Most of the rest went up after 1990, and the median owner home dates to 1996.
The village began as Janney’s Mill in the 1740s, after the Quaker Amos Janney put a grist and saw mill on Catoctin Creek, and took the name Waterford in the 1780s. The County’s guidelines date most of Main and Second Streets to the Federal period, 1781 to 1860: brick, log and fieldstone, attached houses along Main, many dug into the hillside instead of sitting on top of it. These houses were laid out to cool by cross breezes. Any ductwork came much later and went wherever a wall or closet could give up the room.
The rest of 20197 is nearly all detached houses on bigger lots, about three in ten from the 1990s and another three in ten built since 2000. A 1990s house out here has usually had its first furnace or heat pump replaced, and one plumbed before the middle of that decade is worth checking for gray polybutylene supply pipe.
Propane heats most of it. About 55 percent of owner homes heat with propane, close to a quarter with electricity and about one in six with oil. The Census counts no natural gas heat in the ZIP.
Propane furnaces, ductless heat and plumbing for houses on a well.
Heating and cooling calls go to our HVAC team, plumbing calls to our plumbing team; both are based at the SwiftPro shop in Chantilly.
Heating
Propane carries most of the heating here, and we repair and replace propane furnaces, from an igniter or flame sensor that quits to a heat exchanger that’s done. Oil burners go to an oil heat company; switching to propane or a heat pump is ours to price.
Cooling
A Federal house on Main Street seldom has room for full duct runs. A ductless mini-split cools and heats a room through one small line set in the wall. Inside the historic district, where the outdoor unit sits is the County’s business, so check before it goes in.
Plumbing
In the village your water comes from your own well and your drains run to Loudoun Water’s sewer. On a well that yields slowly, a running toilet or a dripping hose bib wastes water the well may not give back that day. We find and fix leaks, replace water heaters and clear drains; the well, its pump and its pressure tank belong to a licensed well contractor.
Waterford gets the same price book as Leesburg.
Village lane or farm road, it’s one set of prices, and you see yours in writing before work begins.
- AC run capacitor replaced$240 to $370
- Refrigerant topped up$190 to $740
- Condensate drain cleared$175 to $420
- Repair diagnostic visit$99
- Drain cleaning, one fixture$200 to $800
- Main sewer line cleaning$550 to $1,650
- Leak detection$200 to $500
- Pressure reducing valve replacement$500 to $1,000
- Water heater, tank, installed$2,757 to $7,494
The figures come from the book behind our plumbing page and our AC repair page. For a propane or electric water heater, the water heater estimator gives the installed price with the County permit in it.
Thinking about a mini-split for rooms the ducts never reached, or a new propane furnace? The HVAC estimator gives a range for your house before a visit.
Your own well, Loudoun Water’s sewer, County permits and a review for the outside.
Your water
Waterford has no public water yet. Village homes and the farms around them pump private wells, and a 2022 study for Loudoun Water found pockets of low-yield wells, with roughly one village lot in eight short of water at times. It judged the groundwater generally fit for a public supply, though one would likely have to treat it for iron and manganese. In 2024 the County approved designing a community water system shared with Paeonian Springs, for Loudoun Water to own. It hasn’t been approved for construction.
Your permit office
Waterford isn’t an incorporated town, so Loudoun County issues the building, gas and zoning permits. Swapping a propane furnace or water heater still takes a County gas permit, and the County’s gas permits reach the propane tank and its outside lines too; since October 2025, a replacement at the same BTUs in the same spot needs no plans. Inside the historic district, the Historic District Review Committee approves most exterior changes before work starts. Indoor work and repair in kind it doesn’t review.
Permit pages: Loudoun County.
Your sewer, or your septic
Most of the village has drained to a public sewer since the late 1970s, built after failing septic systems contaminated wells, and Loudoun Water owns the treatment plant at the village’s northwest corner; it is replacing the old lagoons with a new plant housed to look like the village. Loudoun Water repairs any break under the public right of way; the building sewer up to it is yours, and its inspector checks a repair before the trench is filled. Out past the village, homes drain to their own septic systems.
Sources: Loudoun Water’s 2022 Waterford water study and Loudoun Water’s sewer lateral guidance and the Waterford Historic District Guidelines.
How Northern Virginia homeowners rate SwiftPro.
5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Voted a Nextdoor Neighborhood Faves winner two years running: 2026 in 30 Northern Virginia neighborhoods, 2025 in Emerald Chase (Herndon) and Hunters Run (Chantilly).
Listed in both the HVAC and Plumbing categories of Northern Virginia Magazine’s Best Home Experts directory, which is exactly how we’re built: a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
Our vans in Waterford lately
In the last 30 days SwiftPro’s vans did replacement quotes in Waterford, most recently on Friday, October 2.
Waterford is 13 miles from SwiftPro’s Ashburn shop, and the van that comes to you is coming from the last job, not from the shop. SwiftPro charges no distance fees anywhere it serves.
The village on Catoctin Creek, and the rest of 20197.
In the village: Main Street from the mill up the hill, Second and High Streets and the cross streets between them (Church, Patrick, Janney and Factory), Water and Bond Streets, and Fairfax Street by the old Waterford School. Out from it: the farms and houses on bigger lots across the rest of 20197, inside the 1,420 acres of the National Historic Landmark and well beyond them. Next door:
Waterford questions.
Is there public water in Waterford?
Not yet. Village homes have their own wells, even though most of them are on the public sewer. The County endorsed a communal water system in 2023 and in November 2024 approved designing one shared with Paeonian Springs, covering the same area the sewer serves today. If it’s built and you connect, the County Health Department says the well has to come off the house plumbing; you can keep it for the garden. Repiping the house side for the new line is plumbing work, and that part is ours.
Do I need the County’s OK to replace an air conditioner in Waterford’s historic district?
Maybe. The County says its Historic District Review Committee doesn’t review indoor work or repair in kind, but whether your swap counts as in kind is the County’s call, so ask Planning and Zoning at 703-777-0246 before it’s scheduled. A unit in a new spot, a new vent or a new line set through an outside wall is an exterior change and needs approval first. The guidelines ask for outdoor units, fuel tanks and meters at the back of the house or out of sight, screened in a way that leaves room for airflow.
My well runs low. Can SwiftPro help?
Not with the well itself: Loudoun County requires a licensed water well systems provider for well work. Inside the house, yes. In the 2021 survey for Loudoun Water’s study, village residents said their wells ran dry after long stretches of laundry and dishwashing, lawn watering or a houseful of guests. We fix the leaks a slow well can’t afford, the toilet that runs, the faucet that drips, the hose bib that weeps, and our leak detection finds the quiet ones.
Why does my Waterford well water leave black or orange stains?
Black is usually manganese and orange or brown is usually iron. Loudoun Water’s 2022 study expected water from village wells to need treatment for both, and some residents told its survey about black grit and water they already treat for iron. The same minerals settle in a tank water heater. Treating the well water is a water treatment company’s job; a tank full of sediment is ours, and we’ll tell you straight whether a flush clears it or the tank is done.
Does SwiftPro work on propane in Waterford?
Yes, propane furnaces and propane water heaters, repaired or replaced, which matters here, where propane heats over half the owner homes. Oil burners we don’t work on; about one Waterford homeowner in six still heats with oil, and switching to propane or a heat pump is ours to price. A propane furnace or water heater swap goes through a Loudoun County gas permit, and our water heater prices count it.
In the village or out on the farm roads, call us.
Tell us whether you’re inside the historic district, whether your water comes from a well, and what heats the house: propane, a heat pump or oil (oil burners aren’t ours, but moving off oil is). We’ll say what’s typical for a house like yours, what it usually costs and when we can be there.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company serving Northern Virginia, including Waterford, Leesburg, Purcellville and Ashburn. SwiftPro holds Virginia contractor license #2705192276, is a Trane Comfort Specialist, Rheem Pro Partner and Mitsubishi Diamond Contractor, holds 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews, was voted a Nextdoor Neighborhood Faves winner two years running, for 2026 in 30 Northern Virginia neighborhoods and for 2025 in Emerald Chase (Herndon) and Hunters Run (Chantilly), and is listed in both the HVAC and Plumbing categories of Northern Virginia Magazine’s Best Home Experts directory. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team. More at goswiftpro.com.
In Waterford, SwiftPro repairs and replaces propane furnaces, heat pumps, air conditioners and ductless mini-splits, cleans air ducts and dryer vents, and handles plumbing from leaks and drains to water heaters and sewer lines, in the village and across the rest of 20197.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, 4230 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151, (703) 997-9757. Every town we serve is on the town-by-town guide.