Tankless Water Heater Installation

On-demand hot water sized for how your household uses it and protected from hard water scale, with the gas connection and venting handled by a licensed gas fitter. We install and repair tankless heaters across York Region.

Tank Or Tankless

Is tankless right for your home?

A tankless water heater fires only while a hot tap is open, so no stored water sits losing heat and the tank's floor space is freed. The trade-offs are a higher upfront cost, a dedicated vent, a gas line that can feed it, and scale protection.

It suits a house that keeps running out of hot water. A tank is often the better call when the gas service cannot reasonably be upsized or no outside wall can take a vent. See also water heater repair and replacement and the AquaTec Plumbing home page.

AquaTec plumber mascot using a pipe wrench on a tank water heater, the kind of tank a tankless unit replaces
Available 24/7
15+
Years of experience
18
Towns served
100%
Upfront pricing
24/7
Emergency response
Most tankless trouble traces to an undersized unit, an undersized gas line, or unplanned scale.
Sizing

Sizing for your household's hot water use

A tankless heater is sized by flow, not storage. We count what could run at once, such as two showers and the dishwasher, and size for winter, when incoming water is coldest.

Estate homes in King City and large homes in Vaughan often have several bathrooms and a long run to the far wing, so we compare installing two linked units, adding a second unit near those bathrooms, or keeping a tank. A Keswick bungalow with one or two bathrooms is simpler: one properly sized unit usually covers it.

An existing recirculation loop needs a unit designed for it.

  • Fixtures that run at once
  • Winter water temperature
  • Distance to the far bathroom
  • One unit, two, or a tank
Venting & Gas

Venting, gas lines, and electrical

A gas tankless unit vents through its own pipe, usually out a side wall rather than into the old chimney. Code clearances from windows, doors, air intakes, the gas meter, and the snow line decide where it can exit, and on the narrow side yards of older Thornhill and North York homes they can rule a wall out.

Those houses also have gas lines sized for a tank and furnace, while a tankless unit burns far more gas at full fire, so we check the pipe's size and length against every appliance; where it falls short, it needs upsizing by a licensed gas fitter, and we tell you that before quoting.

If an older furnace still shares the chimney, the licensed gas fitter confirms it still drafts once the tank is disconnected. The unit also needs an outlet, and a condensing model needs a condensate drain.

AquaTec plumber mascot with a pipe wrench at the top of a tank water heater, below its vent pipe
Hard Water

Hard water and scale: protecting the heat exchanger

Hard water is what shortens tankless life here. Calcium drops out as water heats in the exchanger's narrow passages. As the scale builds, the water temperature swings, and the unit shuts off mid-shower and shows a service code. We see it on hard municipal water and on private wells.

Scale protection belongs in the installation: a water softener where one is in place or planned, otherwise a scale-reduction cartridge on the cold inlet, with well water treatment handling iron and sediment first on a well. We also fit isolation valves with purge ports so the heat exchanger can be flushed without cutting pipe.

AquaTec plumber mascot beside a two-tank water softener that keeps scale out of a tankless heater
Rented Or Owned

Replacing a rented or owned tank

To tell whether your tank is rented, look for a rental company's sticker on the tank or a monthly rental charge on a utility bill. If it is rented, read the agreement before booking, since it sets out what happens to that tank, and ask the rental company about it; we do not advise on the contract. We then plan the swap around its terms. An owned tank is drained and carried out.

Installation Day

What installation day looks like

Hot water is off from draining the old tank until the new unit fires. We handle the plumbing side of the job; a licensed gas fitter handles the gas connection and venting, and we tell you up front what gas and venting work your home needs.

1

Shut down and remove

With the gas, power, and water off, we drain the tank, and the gas fitter disconnects the gas line and closes off any chimney connection.

2

Mount and vent

We mount the unit on the wall and pipe the condensate to a drain, and the gas fitter runs the vent to its terminal.

3

Connect gas and water

A licensed gas fitter connects and leak-tests the gas line while we fit isolation valves and scale protection on the water lines.

4

Fire and check

Air is purged through hot taps, the gas fitter lights the burner, and we check the temperature at the farthest fixture.

What you will notice. Hot water takes at least as long to reach a far tap as before, a tap reopened right after a shower can run briefly cooler, and the vent puffs vapour on cold days.

What sets the price. Unit size and count, the condensate drain and outlet, scale protection, and tank removal all affect the price, along with the vent route and any gas line upsizing, which a licensed gas fitter handles. You get a written price before work starts.

Maintenance

Descaling and annual service

On untreated hard water we suggest a yearly service: isolation valves closed, power off, descaling solution circulated through the heat exchanger and flushed out, the inlet screen cleared, and the vent and condensate trap checked.

Tankless water heater repair starts from the error code. Usual causes: a vent blocked by snow or ice, a frozen condensate line, scale, or a sediment-clogged inlet screen on well water.

Seasonal homes on the Georgina shore. A tankless unit holds water and its freeze protection needs power, so at a cottage closed for winter it is drained in fall: gas and power off, valves closed, drain plugs out, condensate trap emptied. In spring it is refilled slowly, purged of air, and leak-checked before firing. More on plumbing for Georgina cottages.

AquaTec Plumbing mascot waving from the navy service van on the way to a tankless service call
Common Questions

Tankless water heater FAQs

What York Region homeowners ask before switching from a tank.

Will a tankless water heater run out of hot water? +
Not like a tank. It heats water while the tap is open; ask more of it at once than it was sized for, especially in winter, and the water cools.
Can my old gas line and chimney handle a tankless unit? +
Usually not as they are. It needs its own vent, most often through a side wall, and a gas line sized for a tank may need upsizing by a licensed gas fitter. We check both before quoting.
Why does a tankless heater need descaling in York Region? +
Hard water leaves calcium in the heat exchanger each time the unit fires. Isolation valves let us flush it in place, and a softener or scale-reduction cartridge slows the buildup.
My current tank is a rental. Can I switch to tankless? +
Yes, once you have read your rental agreement, which sets out what happens to the rented tank. We do not advise on the contract, but we plan the swap around it.
Do you repair tankless water heaters, or only install them? +
Both. We read the error code, check the condensate line and inlet screen, and tell you whether repair makes sense. If the fault is in the vent or the gas supply, a licensed gas fitter handles it, and we tell you up front whether one is needed.
Where We Offer This Service

Tankless installations across York Region, Bradford, and North York

Tankless service in every community we serve.

Planning a tankless installation, or seeing an error code?

We check the gas line, vent, and water first, and give you a written price before work starts.

AquaTec Plumbing mascot giving a thumbs up