Water heater repair and replacement in Reston.
Reston water heaters, gas or electric, tank or tankless, repaired or replaced with the county permit and inspection built into 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
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Reston water heaters split gas and electric, and both need a county permit.
Reston sits close to an even split. Gas heats about half of the owner homes and electricity nearly all the rest, and the water heater usually follows the heat: a gas tank on a flue in one cluster townhouse, an electric tank with no flue at all next door. Same street, different rows of the price book.
Either way it’s a permit job here. Fairfax County puts the direct replacement of a water heater on its list of work that needs a permit, and that line doesn’t separate gas from electric. So the electric tank in a condo closet gets the same permit and inspection as the gas tank in a single-family basement, and both are already in our price.
Changing the kind of water heater is where Reston adds a step. A power vent tank or a tankless unit usually vents out a side wall in PVC, and Reston Association’s rule is that any exterior alteration needs approval unless a design guideline or your cluster’s standards say otherwise. Its flue guideline covers metal flues on the roof: no application if the flue sits on the least visible roof plane, rises no higher than code requires, is no wider than 14 inches and is painted black or the roof color. A pipe through a side wall isn’t in it, so check with your cluster or RA’s covenants team before you settle on one.
Roughly four in ten homes here predate 1980, and in those a gas water heater often vents up the same flue as the furnace. Swap that furnace for a high-efficiency model with plastic exhaust pipe, and the water heater can be left alone on a flue sized for two, where it may not draft well. We look at that flue on every gas swap, and so does the county’s chimney vent certification.
What’s heating the water across Reston.
Census figures for each place, and the water heater that usually goes with its houses. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
| Place | Median home built | Most homes are | Heated with | The water heater you usually find |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reston | 1981 | condo and apartment buildings, about 4 in 10 | gas, about 5 in 10 | Gas tanks on their second or third replacement. |
| Great Falls Crossing | 1993 | single-family houses, about 9 in 10 | gas, about 8 in 10 | Gas tanks on their second or third replacement. |
Reston houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
Reston
- Built before 1980about 4 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes arecondo and apartment buildings, about 3 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 5 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 4 in 10 Census
- Where the heat is electric the water heater usually is too, and that’s the simpler swap: no flue and no gas line to deal with.
What a new water heater costs in Reston.
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 Reston usually does.
Soot or rust at the draft hood
That’s exhaust spilling out where it should be going up the flue, and in an older Reston home it can follow a furnace replacement that left the water heater on the old flue by itself. Turn the water heater off, open a window and call.
Warm, never hot, on an electric tank
An electric tank has two elements. When one fails the water still warms, just never all the way; it’s a common, fixable part.
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 Reston, 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 Reston.
Fairfax County
Fairfax County requires a permit to replace any gas appliance, even like for like: a gas water heater, furnace or boiler. Replacing a fuel-burning appliance also needs a chimney vent certification. Source.
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 Reston.
Questions worth asking anybody who quotes you, us included.
Do they mention Reston Association before suggesting a tankless?
A tankless or power vent heater usually needs a new pipe out a side wall, and in Reston that’s an exterior change. A good installer brings that up before you’ve set your heart on one, so you can check with your cluster or RA first.
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.
This Company installed a tankless water system!!! They were great!!! Very Professional & Efficient & they Cleaned up & took out the old water tank! I would highly recommend them!!
5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Water heater questions from Reston.
Does swapping an electric water heater in Reston take a permit?
Yes. Reston is in Fairfax County, and the county’s list of work that needs a permit includes replacing a water heater, with no exception for an electric one. Ours include the permit and the inspection, electric or gas.
Is a gas or electric water heater cheaper to replace in Reston?
The electric row starts lower, and the tops of the two rows land about even; the full ranges are in the price table above. Switching fuels is what gets expensive: going from electric to gas means running a gas line and adding a flue, so staying with the fuel you already have is the simpler swap.
Who handles a water heater swap in a Reston condo building?
We do the swap; the building sets the rules around it. Most Reston condo units have an electric tank behind a closet door, and some associations want notice, proof of insurance or the work done during set hours. Give us the building name when you book and we’ll work it out with management.
How much is a new water heater in Reston?
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 Herndon
- Water heaters in Great Falls
- Water heaters in Oakton
- Water heaters in Vienna
- Water heaters in Sterling
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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 Reston 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.