Storage tank · Aurora, Colorado
Water heater replacement in Aurora
Replacing a storage tank is a permitted appliance swap, not a promise that the City inspector will arrive the same day. If the new unit is tankless, or the fuel changes, you are on a different job. Start here only when the next heater is still a tank of the same fuel.
Repair it or replace it
A tank that is leaking from the shell is usually finished. A wet fitting, a bad valve, or no hot water with a dry floor can still be a repair. That diagnosis is water heater repair. Do not let a replacement quote skip the question of where the water is coming from. A pan full of water is not, by itself, a ruined tank.
Switching from a tank to a tankless unit changes venting, gas or electrical capacity, and condensate. That scope is tankless installation. Aurora's inspection staff describe a same-day path for replacement water heaters. They do not describe it as a bypass of plan review for a fuel conversion.
What Aurora actually says about the inspection
The City's inspections page says permitted work is inspected, and that the permit card and approved plans have to be on site. For replacement water heaters and furnaces, a licensed plumbing or HVAC contractor can ask the Building Division for a same-day inspection when both the contractor and the homeowner will be there. The City says it will try, and it reserves the right to come another day depending on volume and staff. A quote that promises a same-day City sign-off is promising something the City did not promise.
Scheduling details on that page are about the next inspection day, not about this website. Registered, licensed contractors can request inspections online up to 5:45 a.m. the day of the inspection. Phone requests to the permit center, 303-739-7420, are taken Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Requests after 4:30 p.m. are not added to the next day. Those hours and that phone number belong to the City. This guide does not call them for you.
The City's permitting landing page lists building permits and points people to contractor licensing. A residential handbook that search tools describe as asking for heater capacity and gas or electric was not downloaded for this draft, because the file request was refused. Do not treat a secondhand description as the form in your hand. Use the permitting page and the permit guide to see what to confirm.
What belongs on the quote
This site will not name a price. The items that change the job are the ones to put in writing. Who pulls the permit, and will a licensed contractor be the one requesting the inspection. Whether the new tank matches the old one in type, fuel, and input. Where the tank sits, and whether a pan, a drain, combustion air, or a vent change is required by the listing and the inspector. Removal and disposal of the old tank. How long you will be without hot water. What is excluded, including a gas-line change or a new vent that would push the job off a simple replacement.
If the house is not inside Aurora, stop using this page as the rule. Centennial does not supply water, and its published review schedule treats a residential water heater as a one-stop item with a stated business-day target that is still not a guarantee. Castle Rock may skip plan review for a tank heater and then add review when the heater is tankless. Those are different cities.
Questions to settle first
Will Aurora inspect a new tank the same day?
Maybe. The inspections page says a licensed contractor can request a same-day visit when the contractor and the homeowner are both present. The City also says it may inspect on another day if volume or staffing does not allow it. Ask the contractor to request the inspection. Do not treat same-day as a term of the quote.
Does a like-for-like tank still need a permit?
Treat it as permitted work. Aurora's inspection rules for replacement heaters assume a permit and a contractor who can request the inspection. A handbook description of the application was not retrieved as a file here. Confirm the current form with the Building Division, including capacity and whether the unit is gas or electric, before you rely on an old checklist.
The company wants to switch me to tankless. Is that this job?
No. A tankless unit is a conversion. It can change the gas supply, the vent, the condensate drain, and the electrical circuit. Castle Rock, for example, adds a plan review and asks for the manufacturer sheet and gas-load calculations. Ask for that scope in writing, on the tankless page, instead of folding it into a tank swap.
What should the written quote include?
Permit and who pulls it, match of type and fuel, vent and combustion air if the inspector will look at them, pan and drain if the location needs them, haul-away, and the exclusions. A price with none of those lines is not comparable to a price that includes them. This guide still will not invent the dollar amount.
I live in a nearby city. Can I use Aurora's inspection rule?
No. Centennial publishes its own one-stop list and does not provide water or sewer. Castle Rock publishes a different tankless review. Highlands Ranch is unincorporated Douglas County, not an Aurora permit. Use the city page for the address, or the jurisdiction guide, before you compare quotes.