$150 to $750 is the typical range for a tank water heater repair, averaging $450, per Fixr, updated August 29, 2025. Tankless repairs run $100 to $650, averaging $375, per Fixr's tankless guide, updated January 31, 2025. Which end you land on depends entirely on which part failed.
Hot Water Brief is an independent cost-research site. We are not a contractor and do not perform the work ourselves.
This page is a quick reference for what the most common repairs cost, priced by part rather than by symptom. For what each fault actually means and how to tell one from another, the problems hub walks through the diagnosis in full. The table below pulls the same published data into one list, with a midpoint added to each range.
| Repair | Typical range | Midpoint |
|---|---|---|
| Heating element, electric tank | $200 to $750 | about $475 |
| Thermocouple, gas tank | $150 to $325 | about $238 |
| Pilot light assembly, gas tank | $75 to $150 | about $113 |
| Valve, gas or water, tank | $100 to $300 | about $200 |
| Anode rod | $125 to $300 | about $213 |
| Leak at a tank fitting or drain valve | $75 to $150 | about $113 |
| Leak on a tankless unit | $50 to $600 | about $325 |
Source: Fixr, Water Heater Repair Cost, updated August 29, 2025, for the tank rows, and Fixr, Tankless Water Heater Repair Cost, updated January 31, 2025, for the tankless leak row. Midpoint is arithmetic on the published range, not a separately published average.
A Rinnai combustion fan fault shows as code 61; see the Rinnai code 61 repair costs. For a Rinnai tankless leak code, see Rinnai code 79 repair costs.
Two things: how much of the unit has to come apart to reach the part, and whether the fix is a part swap or the tank itself. Fixr's national data runs from a $75 low on the simplest fix up to $2,000 for a full tank replacement, per its cost guide updated August 29, 2025.
Access and labor time account for most of the spread inside any single part's range. A circulating pump, at $350 to $800, costs more than a thermostat at $100 to $250 mainly because it is a bigger, less commonly stocked part. Once a job crosses into full tank replacement territory, at $600 to $2,000, the comparison changes, because Fixr's guide does not list a corroded tank as a repairable part in the first place. The problems hub covers which faults are a repairable part and which ones mean the tank itself has failed.
Tank repairs run $150 to $750 typical, averaging $450, against $100 to $650 typical, averaging $375, for tankless, per Fixr's two separate cost guides. Tank repairs skew higher partly because the worst case outcome, a full tank swap at $600 to $2,000, sits inside that same range, while tankless carries no equivalent line item.
| Typical range | Average | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tank | $150 to $750 | $450 | $75 | $2,000 |
| Tankless | $100 to $650 | $375 | $50 | $1,000 |
Source: Fixr, Water Heater Repair Cost, updated August 29, 2025, and Fixr, Tankless Water Heater Repair Cost, updated January 31, 2025.
Neither figure is a quote for a specific job. Local labor rates, which part failed, and how accessible the unit is all move a real repair inside these bands, and Hot Water Brief does not set prices or quote work.
On a Rheem tankless, a failed igniter usually shows as Rheem tankless water heater code 11.
Because they are pricing a different thing: a service call rather than a named part. Homewyse prices a repair visit at $303 to $365, dated May 2026, built on a two hour minimum labor charge that covers a tank flush, an inspection of the temperature and pressure relief components, and a thermostat swap if one is needed.
That scope is narrower than it sounds, and different from what the by-part table above prices. A Homewyse-style quote and a Fixr-style part price will not match even when they describe the same visit, because one prices the labor call and the other prices the component that failed. If a quote names a specific part, a thermocouple or an anode rod for instance, compare it against the by-part figures above rather than against a flat visit price.
Dated prices for A. O. Smith OEM anode rods are listed by part number. Brand parts cost more than generic ones; see dated prices for Bradford White OEM anode rods.
The price alone will not tell you whether a repair is the right call. The problems hub diagnoses the most common faults, no hot water at all, hot water that runs out fast, a leak, a pilot that will not stay lit, tankless error codes and rumbling noises, and links each one to its own sourced cost range.
The anode rod is the one part on this page with its own dedicated page: Water Heater Anode Rod Replacement Cost covers inspection intervals, what a homeowner can safely do, and what happens if the rod is never replaced. For a dead thermocouple, a stuck valve or a leak anywhere else on the unit, the diagnosis sits in the problems hub, and the price sits in the tables above.
Every number on this page traces to a published, dated cost guide, listed below.
For the diagnosis behind any of these prices, see Water Heater Problems: What Is Wrong and What Repairs Cost and the full cost hub. Prices move, so check the date on each source against the day you are reading this.
For a storage tank unit, Fixr's national cost guide, updated August 29, 2025, puts the average at $450, with most jobs between $150 and $750, a low of $75 and a high of $2,000. Its separate tankless guide, updated January 31, 2025, gives a $375 average and a $100 to $650 typical range.
A heating element, the more common failure on an electric tank, runs $200 to $750. A thermocouple, the equivalent failure on a gas tank's pilot system, runs $150 to $325. Both figures are from Fixr's Water Heater Repair Cost guide, updated August 29, 2025.
A pilot light assembly repair runs $75 to $150, and a gas or water valve runs $100 to $300, per Fixr, updated August 29, 2025. A relief valve that keeps discharging needs the underlying cause diagnosed first, which the [problems hub](/problems/) covers.
$125 to $300, parts and labor, per Fixr's guide updated August 29, 2025. [Water Heater Anode Rod Replacement Cost](/guides/water-heater-anode-rod-replacement-cost/) covers how often to check it and what happens if it is skipped.
It depends on where the leak is. A leak at a tank fitting or the drain valve runs $75 to $150. On a tankless unit, Fixr's tankless guide, updated January 31, 2025, prices a leak at $50 to $600. A leak from the tank body itself is not repairable and points toward replacement instead.
They are pricing different things. Homewyse's $303 to $365 repair-visit figure, dated May 2026, is a two hour minimum labor charge covering a tank flush and inspection. Fixr's by-part figures price the specific component that failed. Compare a quote against whichever one matches its own scope.
Independent Research
Published ranges for tank and tankless replacement, the failures that justify a repair, and the ones that do not. Sourced, dated, and free to read.
