Water Heater Replacement Cost in DFW: Our Installed Prices

Here is what water heater replacement costs with us in Dallas-Fort Worth, installed: $1,850 for a 40-gallon tank, $2,150 for a 50-gallon tank, and $4,000 for a tankless water heater. Those are the same three prices on our water heater installation page, and they are the prices we give on the phone.

Most articles on this subject give you a national range and tell you it depends. A range is fine for research. It is a poor place to start a budget, because the number you need is what a company near you will charge to put a heater in your garage. So here are ours, how to choose between them, and how to keep the new heater from going the way of the old one.

Water heater replacement cost, by type

• 40-gallon tank water heater: $1,850 installed. For smaller households replacing a 40-gallon tank like for like.
• 50-gallon tank water heater: $2,150 installed. For larger families, or anyone running out of hot water today.
• Tankless water heater: $4,000 installed. Hot water on demand, and the floor space back.

Each of those is an installed price, not a price for the heater alone. Every house is a little different, so tell us what you have now and we will walk you through how your job would go.

40-gallon or 50-gallon?

This is the question we get most, and $300 separates the two. As a rough guide, a 40-gallon tank suits a smaller household and a 50-gallon tank suits a larger family or a home with a big soaking tub.

Your own house is the better guide. If the tank you have now keeps up, replacing it with the same size is the lowest-cost route. If showers go cold before everyone is done, size up when you replace it. You are paying for the install either way, so replacement day is the cheapest moment to fix a hot water shortage.

Look at the label on your current tank before you call. The size is printed on it, and so is the date it was made, which tells you how old it is.

Tank or tankless?

Both work. The difference is how they heat, how much room they take, and the price.

A tank water heater heats and stores a full tank, so hot water is ready when you turn on the tap. It can run out when several showers run back to back. It stands on the floor in the garage, attic or closet.

A tankless water heater heats water as it flows, only when a tap is open. It keeps going as long as you stay within its flow rate, which is how much hot water it can make at once. It is a compact unit on the wall instead of a tank on the floor.

Tankless costs more up front: $4,000, against $1,850 or $2,150 for a tank. It suits larger households, long showers, or anyone who wants the space back. If your current tank does the job and price matters most, a like-for-like tank is the simpler choice. We install both, and we will tell you which one we would put in your house.

Repair or replace?

Not every water heater problem means a new heater. If the tank itself is not leaking and the heater is not old, a repair may be the right call. Our water heater repair page covers the common problems.

These signs point toward replacement:

• Water around the base. A leaking tank does not repair itself. Once the tank is leaking, replacement is the fix.
• Rusty or discolored hot water. If only the hot side comes out brown, the inside of the tank may be corroding.
• Rumbling or popping as it heats. That usually means sediment and scale have built up on the bottom.
• Repairs that keep adding up. By the second or third repair, the money is usually better spent on a new heater.
• Age. Check the date on the label. If you do not know how old the heater is, find out before it fails.

DFW hard water and your new heater

That rumbling tank deserves a second look, because hard water is part of the story here. Dallas Water Utilities puts Dallas water hardness at 120 to 155 mg/L as calcium carbonate, about 7 to 9 grains per gallon. The U.S. Geological Survey rates that range moderately hard to hard. We went through the city’s numbers in Dallas water hardness: what the city’s numbers mean.

Hardness is the calcium and magnesium dissolved in your water. In a water heater, those minerals leave scale in the bottom of a tank and inside a tankless unit, and that buildup makes the heater work harder.

Outside Dallas, your water may come from a different supplier with its own report. Fort Worth, Arlington, Garland and the rest of the metro are not all on the same source. Our water lookup by ZIP code tells you which utility serves your address and links to that utility’s report.

The fix for scale is a water softener, which removes hardness at the point where water enters your home. Our Standard Whole-Home Softener + Filtration for city water is $2,650 installed, and its carbon also reduces chlorine and chloramine. If you are replacing a heater anyway, it makes sense to price both on the same call.

Licensed, with the price up front

Honest Water Co holds Texas Plumbing License #46412. Our prices are on the page because when a water heater fails, you need to know what the fix costs before you can decide anything else.