Hot water tank replacement
Most hot water tank replacements in Metro Vancouver run $1,800–$3,200 installed, and in most cases we can do it the same day you call. That price includes the tank, installation, the permit, and hauling the old one away.
Below: how to know whether yours needs replacing rather than repairing, what size you actually need, what moves the price, and why the permit matters more than the installer who skips it will tell you.
Does it need replacing, or repairing?
Replace it if:
It's leaking from the tank body. Not a fitting, not the valve — the tank itself. This is terminal. The steel has corroded through and it will fail completely, usually soon and usually messily.
It's over 10–12 years old and something has gone wrong. The average tank lasts 8–12 years here. Repairing a 13-year-old tank is money spent on borrowed time.
Rusty or discoloured hot water — the tank is corroding internally.
Repeated repairs — two service calls in a year on the same tank is the point to stop.
Repair it if:
It's under 8 years old and the fault is a thermostat, element, thermocouple, pilot assembly or gas valve. These are ordinary parts and worth replacing.
The leak is at a fitting or the temperature and pressure valve, not the tank.
No hot water but the tank is otherwise sound. Hot water tank repair
We'll tell you which you're in. If your tank is seven years old with a failed element, we're not going to sell you a new one.
What size do you need?
Undersizing means running out mid-shower. Oversizing means paying to keep water hot that nobody uses.
Two things shift this. A soaker tub eats a tank's entire capacity in one fill. And in a condo, the physical space and the door width often decide the answer before capacity does — we measure before we quote.
- 1–2 people, one bathroom
- 40 gallon / 150L
- 3–4 people, two bathrooms
- 50 gallon / 190L
- 5+ people, or multiple simultaneous showers
- 60–75 gallon / 230–285L
- Condo or townhouse, space-limited
- 30–40 gallon, sometimes a specific slim or short model
Gas or electric?
Usually you replace like with like, because switching means new venting or new electrical, and that cost is significant.
Electric is cheaper to install, has no venting requirement, and is common in condos where gas isn't available to suites. Slower recovery.
Heat pump (hybrid) electric uses roughly a third of the energy of standard electric and may qualify for rebates. Needs space and a reasonable ambient temperature — a heated basement works, an unheated crawlspace doesn't. Heat pump water heaters
About the permit
Replacing a hot water tank requires a permit in most Metro Vancouver municipalities. A lot of installers skip it — it's the most commonly unpermitted plumbing work in the city, particularly on cash jobs.
Why it matters to you, not just to us:
Resale. Unpermitted work shows up in a conveyancing search or a buyer's inspection and becomes a negotiation.
Insurance. If an unpermitted tank fails and floods the house, your insurer may have a view about that.
Safety. The inspection checks venting, seismic strapping, the expansion tank and the T&P discharge. On a gas tank, venting is a carbon monoxide question.
We pull the permit and it's in the quoted price, not added afterward.
What's included
New tank, supplied and installed · Permit and inspection · Old tank disconnected and hauled away · New flex connectors, shut-off valve and T&P discharge line as required · Seismic strapping to code · Expansion tank where required · Full test and commissioning · Manufacturer warranty registered in your name — we do this; most companies leave it to you and most people never do it
What it costs
What moves it: access (a tight basement corner or a third-floor condo closet costs more than an open garage) · whether venting or electrical needs upgrading · expansion tank if not already fitted · condo logistics — elevator booking, protection, and getting an old tank out of a suite · whether the existing install was done to code (we occasionally find work that has to be corrected before a new tank can pass inspection).
- 40 gal gas
- $1,800–$2,600
- 50 gal gas
- $2,100–$3,200
- 40 gal electric
- $1,600–$2,400
- 50 gal electric
- $1,900–$2,800
- 60–75 gal
- $2,800–$4,500
- Heat pump water heater
- $3,500–$6,000 before rebates
Same day
If we can't, we'll tell you when we can rather than have you wait in.
