What we do
We install, service and repair tankless gas water heaters — Rinnai, Navien, Noritz and Rheem among them. An install is sized on two numbers: the flow you actually need in gallons per minute, and the temperature rise required to reach it in January rather than in July. A unit that is fine in August and cannot hold temperature in winter was sized on the wrong month.
The two things that most often go wrong on someone else's install are the gas supply and the venting. A tankless burner draws far more gas at peak than the tank it replaced, so the existing line is frequently too small or too long, and the unit then short-cycles or throws a flame-failure code under load. Venting has to be the manufacturer's own concentric or twin-pipe system, terminated at the right clearances — it is not interchangeable with the old atmospheric flue.
For repairs we read the unit's own error code first, because it usually tells the truth: ignition failure, flame loss, exhaust blockage, overheat, or a flow sensor that has stopped seeing water. Most of those are serviceable. A cracked heat exchanger generally is not, and we will say so rather than sell a repair that buys a season.
Descaling, and why it matters here
Orange County water is hard. Scale builds inside a tankless heat exchanger far faster than most owners expect, and it shows up as a unit that takes longer to reach temperature, cycles noisily, or throws overheat codes under a normal shower load. Left long enough it ends the exchanger.
A descale is a straightforward service: isolate the unit at the service valves, circulate a descaling solution through the exchanger, flush, and clean the inlet screen. If your install has no isolation valves, that job becomes a much larger one — which is why we fit them on every install we do, whether or not anyone asks.
Signs you need this service
- Hot water that runs cold when a second tap opens
- The unit displays an error code and locks out
- Water is hot in summer and never quite hot in winter
- A rumbling or kettling noise when it fires
- The temperature swings during a single shower
- It has never been descaled and it is more than two years old
Tankless or a tank
Tankless suits a household that runs out of hot water, wants the garage floor space back, or plans to stay long enough for the longer service life to pay. It is a poor fit where the gas supply cannot be upsized economically and the demand is modest — in that case a correctly sized tank is the honest recommendation.
If a tank is what you have and what you want to keep, that work is on the water heater page. We will tell you which one your house actually calls for before quoting either.
What a correct tankless install includes
- Gas line sized for the burner at peak demand, not for the tank it replaced
- Manufacturer-specified venting, terminated at the required clearances
- Isolation service valves on both hot and cold, so it can be descaled later
- A condensate line run to a drain on condensing units
- Sizing based on winter incoming water temperature, not summer
- The unit commissioned and its flow and temperature checked before we leave