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Water Heater Repair in Bucktown, Chicago
Two houses on one block, two different water heaters.
Cottages from 1890 and new builds from 2015, side by side. We have repaired and replaced water heaters in both since 2003, at the same Chicago prices.
Serving 60647, same day across Chicago
Emergency Water Heater Repair, Chicago
Start with what you can see or hear
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Tell us the symptom. We can usually name the cause while you are still on the phone, and each card rings a specialist. Water heaters are all any of us install or repair.
Runs out fast
You run out of hot water after one shower. Sediment on the tank floor, or a tank undersized for the house.
Tank is leaking
Water at the base. On a finished lower level that is a flooring bill, so call before you mop.
Rumbling or popping
Sediment cooking on the steel. Chicago’s hard water builds it fast.
Pilot won’t stay lit
It lights and dies. Thermocouple, gas supply, or a draft down an old flue.
Water Heaters Are All We Repair
One trade, and both kinds of house on your block
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Every hour a general plumber spends identifying your unit is an hour we do not need. Water heaters are the whole business here: gas and electric, tank and tankless, installation and repair, residential and commercial. The housing on your block is split, so the truck carries both answers. A cottage still on its original flue takes a 40 gallon chimney vent. A 2015 rebuild that lost the chimney takes a power vent, and about $900 more. Whatever is down there, we have seen it. With 40+ on the shelf, repair and installation both happen on the first visit.
✶ Diagnosis in minutes, not an hour of working out what you own
✶ 40+ water heaters on the truck, gas and electric, every common size
✶ Licensed and insured, family-owned since 2003, residential and commercial
Water Heater Services
Every Water Heater Job,
One Bucktown Crew
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From a cottage on Charleston to a rebuild on Homer, we run every water heater job on the block and price it before we start.
Bucktown Water Heater Reviews
What the neighbours put in writing
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Three reviews, three streets, exactly as written. Google carries 350+ more of them at a flat 5.0. Yelp carries 650+.
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In and out in about an hour
Vince Coraci
Charleston Street · Google review
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No hidden fees, sorted with my landlord
Andrius
Cortland Street · Google review
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Within 24 hours, and a check-in a week later
Esther S.
Homer St · Yelp review
Water Heater Repair Services, Two Jobs
Two jobs, two very different houses
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Two installations, start to invoice. What went in, how long it took, and the number at the end.
Job One · Standard Replacement
40 Gallon Power Vent Replacement
August 2025
Date
3 hrs
Install time
$2,800
Final cost
The obstacle
An 1890s workers’ cottage on Charleston Street, with family visiting from out of town and a 40 gallon gas unit that had let go and flooded the mechanical room. Sunday morning, and the basement access is as tight as those cottages get.
How we solved it
We were there inside 90 minutes on a weekend. The failed tank came out through the narrow basement stairs, a new Rheem 40 gallon went in with power venting suited to the headroom down there, and the water supply lines were reconnected and tested. Hot water back before dinner, with the house full.
Job Two · Tankless or Complex Conversion
Rheem tankless in a Cortland Street studio loft
April 2025
Date
3 hrs
Install time
$6,000
Final cost
The obstacle
A converted industrial loft on Cortland Street, where a 75 gallon tank filled an entire closet the owner wanted back for studio space. An artist working from home, so the hot water demand runs higher than the floor area suggests, and the gas line needed checking before anything was promised.
How we solved it
A licensed gas contractor evaluated the line and confirmed it already carried what the unit needs, so no upgrade and no change to the quote. The Rheem went on the wall with an expansion tank. That closet gave back 12 square feet of studio, and the hot water stopped running out.
Water Heater Replacement Prices, Chicago
The 1890 house and the 2015 house pay the same
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Installed prices. Unit, permit and removal are inside the number. The age of your building does not change it, and nothing we find in the basement changes it either.
✶ Unit included ✶ Installation included ✶ Permit handled ✶ Old unit hauled away ✶ No hidden fees
| Water heater type | Installed price |
|---|---|
| 40 Gallon Electric | $1,700 – $1,800 |
| 50 Gallon Electric | $1,800 – $1,900 |
| 40 Gallon Chimney Vented (Gas) | $1,700 – $1,800 |
| 40 Gallon Power Vented (Gas) | $2,600 – $2,800 |
| 50 Gallon Chimney Vented (Gas) | $1,800 – $2,000 |
| 50 Gallon Power Vented (Gas) | $2,600 – $3,000 |
| 75 Gallon Chimney Vented (Gas) | $2,600 – $3,000 |
| 75 Gallon Power Vented (Gas) | $3,700 – $4,100 |
| Tankless Water Heater (Gas) | $5,600 – $6,600 |
These are residential prices. Commercial is priced on the building, not the gallon, and quoted separately at $13,000 to $25,000.
Same size, same vent, up to four stories: no City of Chicago permit. Change either and it needs one, $75 to $200. We pull it and build it into your quote.
Water Heaters in Chicago 60647
We have been in both kinds of basement since 2003
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One block, two eras, two different water heaters. Here is what we check before the truck is loaded.
The building stock
This was workers’ cottages and two flats between 1880 and 1910, then it got rebuilt harder than anywhere near it. Teardowns from the 1990s onward put four story single family homes next door to the originals. Along Elston and the river the old industrial buildings went residential. Three eras on most blocks.
Where we work in 60647
Damen, Hoyne and Leavitt between North and Fullerton. Cortland, Wabansia and Churchill. The blocks either side of the 606. Milwaukee down to the six corners, and the Elston corridor east to the river. Wicker Park is the next neighborhood south and we cover both on the same route.
The new build problem
A 2015 rebuild usually has modern venting and no flue worries at all. What it often has instead is a 50 gallon tank sized for the plans, not for four bathrooms and a basement suite. That is the call we get: the water heater works and you still get inconsistent hot water. That is not a repair problem, it is a sizing problem. Tankless gives you hot water on demand, $5,600 to $6,600 installed, and we measure the gas line before quoting.
The cottage problem
The originals are the opposite. A chimney flue that may or may not still be usable, a basement with low headroom, and a stairwell that decides what size fits. We ask about the ceiling and the turn at the bottom on the phone, so a tank that will not go in never leaves the shop. We repair where a repair will hold, and say so plainly when it will not.
72
Bucktown reviews since 2003
77
Bucktown jobs in the last 12 months
18 Min
How fast we reach a 60647 address, on average
Water Heater Questions Chicago Homeowners Ask
What people here ask before they call
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The four we get asked most on these blocks. The answers include the numbers.
Professional Water Heater Service
Tell us which house you have
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A few lines is enough. Say whether it is an original or a rebuild and we will know what to load before we leave. Rather talk? Call, and someone answers.
✶ Same day water heater repair and installation across 60647 and Chicago
✶ Written quote before anything starts
✶ 1535 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Nearby: Wicker Park · Logan Square · Lincoln Park
