Water Heaters

Water heater repair & installation in Portland.

A cold shower is how most water heater trouble announces itself, and the fix should never begin with a sales pitch. Panda Plumbing repairs and replaces gas and electric water heaters across the east Portland metro with honest diagnostics, exact quotes in writing, and installs done to the letter of the manual and the code book.

No-Window Guarantee Licensed · Bonded · Insured Bradford White · Rheem

(503) 830-6400 Book a Free Consultation

Tankless water heater installed by Panda Plumbing with clean copper connections and venting

The No-Window Guarantee

You get an exact 30-minute arrival slot, never a 4-hour window. If we miss it, your service call fee is waived.

Honest Diagnostics

Repair or replace? We tell you the truth.

Plenty of shops answer every water heater call the same way: tear it out and sell a new one. We think the honest answer is worth more than the easy sale. Every visit starts with a flat dispatch and diagnostic fee that is applied straight to your bill when you approve the work, so nobody on our team has a reason to oversell you.

When a repair genuinely makes sense, we make it: a failed heating element, a thermocouple that keeps dropping the pilot, a fitting weeping at the connections. That is years of hot water recovered for a fraction of the cost of a new unit. When the tank itself is corroding from the inside, we say so plainly, because patching a dying tank spends your money twice. Either way you get the reasoning, the numbers, and an exact price in writing before anything happens. If you want to study the money side first, our guide to water heater replacement costs in Portland lays it out.

One more truth worth hearing: old tanks rarely fail politely. When a worn shell finally lets go, it can put the entire tank on your floor in minutes, which is why so many of our replacement customers add a smart leak detection shutoff during the same visit.

Flat diagnostic fee, credited toward approved work
Exact, guaranteed price in writing before work begins
Repairs recommended whenever they truly make sense
Straight answers about how much life your tank has left

Three commercial power-vent water heaters installed by Panda Plumbing in a mechanical room

Homeowner on a video call with a plumber

Diagnostics start with a free 5-minute video call, so we arrive already knowing your unit.

What We Handle

From a stubborn pilot light to a full replacement.

Gas or electric, hallway closet or garage corner, the tank feeding your showers gets the same journeyman-level attention.

Repairs that restore hot water

Leaks at fittings and valves, failed heating elements on electric tanks, and thermocouples that keep killing the pilot on gas units. Diagnosed over a short video call first, then fixed with the exact part already on the truck.

Replacement and upsizing

Gas and electric tanks replaced with the capacity your household actually needs. If the old 40-gallon never survived back-to-back showers, this is the moment to step up to a 50-gallon water heater instead of repeating the problem.

Code items, done right

Expansion tanks, seismic strapping, drain pans and drain lines: the details inspectors look for and rushed installs skip. Ours go in correctly the first time, with the permit on file to prove it.

The Panda Install

Installed to manufacturer spec, so your warranty actually holds.

A manufacturer warranty is a contract with conditions. Undersized venting, a missing expansion tank, no permit on record: any one of them can hand the manufacturer a reason to deny a claim years down the road. Our installs follow the installation manual and the Oregon plumbing code line by line, and the permit we file is your paper trail.

We install Bradford White tanks because the brand is sold through licensed plumbing professionals rather than off a big-box shelf, and because it is built to be serviced instead of scrapped. Before anything is ordered, we size the new unit to how your household really uses hot water: people, bathrooms, laundry habits, that soaking tub you love. The right answer is not always whatever size was there before.

On install day the gas connections and venting are corrected rather than reused on faith, the old unit leaves on our truck, and the paperwork happens without you chasing anyone. And if your gas tank has reached the end of its run, that is the natural moment to weigh a tank-to-tankless conversion, a project we engineer end to end.

New tank water heater with seismic straps, expansion tank, and drain pan

Every installation includes

Sizing matched to your household’s real hot water demand
Venting and gas connections brought up to spec
Expansion tank, seismic strapping, pan and drain where code calls for them
Permit filed and the inspection coordinated for you
The old water heater hauled away
A workmanship warranty honored in writing

The yearly flush your tank is owed

Sediment settles in every tank and quietly steals efficiency and years. An annual drain-and-flush keeps the burner heating water instead of a layer of mineral, and it matters more than ever now that harder water is reaching parts of the east metro after Gresham switched its supply to groundwater in 2026. And if the far bathroom waits an age for warm water, that is not the heater failing: a hot water recirculation loop puts hot water at that tap in seconds.

How It Works

Cold shower to squared away, in four steps.

Video pre-diagnostic

A free 5-minute video call with a journeyman plumber, so we arrive already knowing your unit and carrying the right parts.

Exact quote

A guaranteed price in writing before a single tool comes out. Approve the work and the diagnostic fee rolls into the bill.

Protected install

Runners down and floors covered before the work starts, and a disinfected, tidy workspace before we leave.

Follow-up

Our office checks in after the job to confirm the hot water is behaving exactly the way it should.

Good Questions

Water heater questions, answered straight.

How long does a water heater last?

A standard tank typically lasts 10 to 12 years, and sediment, hard water, or skipped maintenance can shorten that. Tankless units typically run around 20 years with an annual descale. If your tank is past the 10-year mark, it is worth a proactive look before it starts leaking, and we will tell you honestly how much life it likely has left.

How do you decide between repair and replacement?

We weigh the age of the unit, the cost of the fix, and what the same money buys in remaining life. A failed element or thermocouple on a newer tank is usually a straightforward repair. A leaking shell on a tank past its expected lifespan is a replacement, because no part fixes corrosion from the inside. You get the reasoning and an exact written price for each path before you choose.

Can you replace my water heater the same week?

Usually, yes. Standard replacements are typically same-week projects, and the video pre-diagnostic means we show up with the correct unit instead of spending a visit on measurements. What we will not do is promise a slot the schedule cannot honor: you get a real timeline when we quote the job.

Gas or electric: which should I choose?

Start with what your home already has. Staying with your current fuel type keeps the install simple, while switching adds venting, gas piping, or electrical panel work that changes the budget. We install both, and we will walk you through the honest numbers for your house rather than push one answer.

Do I need a permit to replace a water heater in Portland?

Yes. Water heater replacement in Portland requires a plumbing permit, and we file it as part of every install. The inspection that follows verifies the details that keep your home safe and your manufacturer warranty intact, including venting, the expansion tank, and seismic strapping.

More questions? Browse every answer on our FAQ page.