This is the question everyone actually wants answered, so here it is first.

Repair it if the failure is a component. Igniters, gas valves, pressure switches, flow switches, high limit switches, thermistors, control boards, fan motors, capacitors, and contactors are all normal wear parts. They fail, you replace them, the heater goes back to work. A component repair on a heater with life left in it is almost always the right call.

Replace it if the heat exchanger is gone. The exchanger is the heart of the unit and it is typically 50 to 60 percent of the cost of a whole new heater. Once it is scaled shut, corroded through, or cracked, you are paying most of a new heater to keep an old one. That math rarely works.

Our rough rule: if the repair is more than half the cost of replacement and the unit is past seven years old, replace it. Under that, fix it.

Age matters more here than most places. Gas heaters in the East Valley commonly last five to ten years. Heat pumps run ten to fifteen. Those are shorter than the national numbers, and the reason is our water. More on that below.

We will give you the numbers both ways and let you decide. If replacing is the better move, we do pool heater installation too, and we will still tell you when a repair is the smarter buy.