I live in Cupertino and my landlord chose BWH to replace my electric water heater. Spencer and his co-worker did a great job. They arrived on time and covered my carpet before starting their work. Spencer was articulate and took the time to explain the work. It was not easy because I live on the 2nd level but they completed the work ahead of schedule. I would highly recommend Spencer and BWH. read more

Excellent job. My tankless water heater broke in the evening, had a chat with Frans and was able to get it fixed the following morning.

Installed a tankless water heater. Response was quick and installation was smooth and timely. Rolando was very prompt and answered all my questions. Pricing is also fair. read more

Frans and his team at Better Water Heaters did a great job replacing our water heater. I submitted a request for a quote via Yelp, and Frans provided a real quote and answered my questions thoroughly (unlike multiple other vendors who claimed to provide quotes on Yelp, but didn't and tried to bait me into a phone conversation instead). Frans provided a reasonable quote with an extended warranty option that I accepted. He was very responsive and his team came out to do the work quickly. They did a clean and nice-looking installation and explained the functionality of the new water heater to me. Another thing that I really appreciated was Frans' continued and unwavering support when the city inspector identified corrections that he wanted done before approving the permit. I don't have the knowledge to assess whether the corrections were justified, but Frans and his team made sure they were quickly addressed. The team came out and implemented fixes quickly, then came out again for the reinspection to provide their support. We passed the inspection with flying colors. I wholeheartedly recommend Frans and his team due to the quality of their work, responsiveness, and high professional ethics. read more

They did a great job of working with my HOA to complete the installation in a timely and quality manner. Even though they recommended a different product, when that product wouldn't work with how my home was set up, they gladly worked with me to buy an alternative product that would. And they furnished all documents that I needed for my policy. read more

Reasonable cost estimate for replacing of gas powered water heater with electric heat pump water heater. Would seriously consider hiring.

Did a great job for a reasonable price. They flushed and descaled my water heater for $250. Many of the plumbers gauge you. I had a few close to the same price but MANY between 350-475 for the same job. Peter was the person who called me and he was super professional and told me how far I could stretch it before the next flushing versus saying "next year" for more business. read more

I hired Better Water Heaters to replace my traditional water heater with a brand new tankless one from Rinnai. I received multiple quotes from various companies and ultimately chose Better Water Heaters (even though they weren't the cheapest) because they did the best at answering questions about my concerns (I came prepared after doing a lot of research on the products). They came and installed everything (which included running a new gas line to the unit, because the line I had for the old heater wasn't big enough for optimal performance). The installation was cleanly done and 2 weeks in, everything is still working great (I now have recirculation since the Rinnai has a built in pump). I would recommend them and use them again! read more

Left a project request on yelp because my tankless water heater had stopped working. Received a message and asked for a phone call. Received a call within ha few minutes they knew from the error code what my problem was and set an appointment for the next morning. Technician arrived with a helper as scheduled and repaired the water heater wishing I an hour. Pricing was fair and service too Notch! read more

Replaced my gas water heater. Unlike many other places, Better Water Heaters just does fixed price quote rather than per hour - I took that gamble just in case it took a longer time than i thought it would. Installation done in timely manner, though he did not have a couple parts with him on truck so had to come back next day. Passed inspection. Would seem that company that only installs water heaters would know the regulations - tried to tell me i needed an expansion tank (extra $350) but since I do not have a closed water system it is not required. read more

Better Water Heaters does not service my area (Oakland) but they responded very promptly to my request.

I rarely write reviews, but Better Water Heaters deserves every bit of praise I can give. After my water heater suddenly started leaking late at night, I contacted six different plumbers. Prices were all over the place, and most of them either couldn't come quickly or wanted to charge outrageous labor fees. Then I found Better Water Heaters, and everything changed. Rolando -- the technician who came out -- was nothing short of exceptional. From the moment he arrived, he was professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly efficient. He drained my old water heater, disconnected everything, hauled the entire unit to Home Depot, handled the warranty replacement process, picked up the brand-new unit, and installed it perfectly. The quality of his work was superb -- exact, clean, and expertly done. He even noticed that my old drain pan was cracked (something another company had only taped over), explained why it needed replacement, and fixed it correctly. The attention to detail was impressive. And the price? More than fair. In fact, their labor charge was significantly better than all six other plumbers I had spoken with. No hidden fees, no upselling -- just honest, solid work at a very reasonable cost. It is rare these days to find a company that combines professionalism, skill, fairness, and genuine customer care, but Better Water Heaters absolutely delivered. Rolando, especially, went above and beyond -- and I am truly grateful. If you ever need a water heater repaired or replaced, save yourself the stress and call Better Water Heaters first. They are the real deal, and Rolando is a superstar. Highly recommended! read more

Frans did an amazing job fixing my Takagi tankless water heater in just 20 minutes! Other companies only came to inspect it and recommended replacing the entire unit for over $5,500--way too expensive. Frans clearly knows his stuff. His expertise not only saved me a ton of money but also made sure I could finally enjoy a hot bath again. I really appreciate his professionalism and efficiency. Highly recommend him! read more

See all

From communication to availability, and from pricing to explanation of services. 5 stars all around. Colin, the tech who performed the service was very good as well. Very professional and friendly. We performed the tankless water heater service (descaling, flushing, etc). Highly recommend them! read more

My old water heater stop working and by old, I mean 15 years old. Pge guy knew about this issue before and he recommend to just replace the thermocouple. I asked for estimates and better water heaters was the only who offer me to replace the water, instead of just replacing the whole thing. I got a very fair price and it was fixed very quickly. Highly recommend this company, not only for his service but also great at communicating read more

Replaced a 50 gal water tank with a Rinnai tankless heater b4 Thanksgiving. Rolando did a great job. He called shortly b4 arrival. We like his skills. Frans, owner, is very responsible. I wanted to adjust the setting and he had Rolando dropped by the next day. We like it so far. Save space and unlimited hot water. The only thing is the humming noise when the recirculating pump kick in. It is more expensive to replace it comparing to a 50 gal tank water heater. read more

Better Water Heaters - Water Heater Installation/Repair Near Me

See all

They installed a brand new Tankless Water Heater for me. I highly recommend them as they are honest professionals with competitive prices.

Frans was very responsive and answered all my questions about tankless water heaters, which led me to choose Better Water Heaters. Rolando arrived on time and did a great job with the install. Our previous two tank water heaters were also installed by Frans's team, so I can say this company has a history of providing quality work. read more

Requested for a flush/descale system service for our gas powered tankless water heater and the service was top notch from the communication to the actual service performed. Peter performed a great service, was informative and answered all my questions. Would definitely get another service in the future. Most of the quotes I got from yelp had a lot of unnecessary questions ( I described exactly what I want in the description and it had all the answers for the questions asked) and Frans gave a flat out rate estimate and I went ahead. read more

Installer Peter did a great job - he diagnosed the problem and installed a new unit on the same day that I reported the problem - highly recommended. read more

Love to give Better Water Heaters, Inc. 10 stars. We had a hot water issue and two previous plumbing companies could not resolve it. Collin from Better Water Heaters fixed it immediately. He saw the settings were incorrect on our recirculation pump on our tankless system. Now we have hot water throughout the house. Collin went above beyond, not only flushing out the system, but showed me how do it. He explained each set including cleaning multiple filters. Two other things to note. The company was very responsive and the pricing was very quite fair. So happy with our service. I can defitinitly without a doubt recommend Better Water Heaters! read more

Great experience with Frans, Rolando, & Kevin were all very knowledgeable, responsive, and reliable. Frans, the owner, helped set up the estimate and install. Rolando came to fulfill the estimate and educate us on a tankless water heater as well as a water softener upgrade. Kevin came back to address a concern we had with the equipment. Overall, price was slightly costly but totally worth it. We believe we will get support if anything else may come up with our plumbing needs. read more

I have used Better Water Heaters for over 15 years, and they have installed multiple water heaters for me. Yesterday, one of my 13+ year-old water heaters broke. I called them, and Frans quickly arranged for the technician to come to my house within a couple of hours. The technician is professional and very easy to work with. Within 1 hour, the new water heater was up and running. He also checked my water supply and provided some additional advice. It may not be the lowest price, but you get the best quality of service with Better Water Heaters. read more

Love the prompt response I received from Frans and being able to send his Technician the following day. Not only did Rolando arrive early but he was so professional and friendly, he changed out our old water heater in record time. I recommend this Company highly because they also made it affordable when paying for their services. Thank you so much. read more

I called Better Water Heaters for a second estimate so I could make a better informed decision. Kevin and Collin showed up for a free estimate! They are punctual! They also do a great job at offering earlier time frames when they become available and I took advantage of that scenario twice (for the estimate and day of job). For the estimate, Kevin and Collin took a quick look and gave me their standard pricing for removal, disposal, and installation of old water heater and installation of a new pressure regulator (regulates water pressure coming in to the house from the city). Their pricing was fairly close to my first estimate but Better Water Heaters installs with Bradford and White brand (professional install only) which gave me a sense of extra durability/reliability. With that said, I still did not hire them initially... Enter Frans: Frans is the business owner and he's a very kind and considerate person which, in my opinion, makes him the best kind of business owner: the kind who cares about the community they work in! About 45 minutes after Kevin and Collin left my house from the estimate, I got a call from Hans. Hans explained that he had a few appointments cancel on him and he would love to put his guys to work. He asked what he could do to earn my business so I told him: "I got a guy who's offering me the same set up for less but I like the brand of water heater you guys install." Hans went ahead and lowered the price AND added an extra 2 years warranty on the water heater parts. What an offer! I called Hans back 5 min later and agreed to his new offer. The actual job: Showed up early and got the work done within the estimated time frame! Clean build and clean work area after. Kevin even taught me how to drain the heater once a year for maintenance. I think you can't go wrong with Better Water Heaters. You get a free estimate and very competitive pricing. They do great quality work efficiently. I highly recommend Better Water Heaters, a great LOCAL small business!! read more

We currently got a tankless water heater. This company was absolutely amazing to work with especially the installer Peter. I can't say enough about how smooth and clean the job came out. We highly recommend this company. Everything we asks Peter to do was no problem!!!! read more

Had my water heater replaced. Frans was very friendly, professional and informative. Quoted me a fair price. I called on a Saturday and he scheduled me in for Monday morning. His crew showed up on time and did a great job. I would recommend them to anyone. read more

These guys were recommended to me by someone I trust. I called Wednesday night around 5 pm, talked to I'm assuming the owner. He said he can install a new gas water heater, the very next day. Price wise - his was flat fee and included "doing everything that may need to be done" and was a few hundred dollars cheaper than another guy who said his fee included the heater only but any "extras" (plumbing, pan?) would be extra. The next day, the work window was 2-4, with a warning call 30 minutes before arrival. The technician called at 1 saying he's 30 minutes out - so, early. Showed up, did everything cleanly and beautifully, and left in a few hours. Did not even complain about the second floor! :) The new water heater is a huge improvement over the old one, and the experience and the process could not have gone better or been easier. I'm very pleased! read more

Frans contacted me from a help cry on Angie's List. The pilot light on my water heater refused to stay lit. Rolando was amazing! He removed the old water heater and installed the new one quickly and also took the time to explain to me about maintenance. Thank you!! read more

Called me immediately after reaching out to them. They said they could be here the next day and they showed up when they said they would. Got the water heater working. Great service. read more

Better Water Heaters did a really great job installing a new heat pump water heater and solving a couple of glitches that showed up after installation. I highly recommend them. My details: I needed to replace my gas water heater after it started leaking a half gallon per day. At the same time, I wanted to move to a heat pump water heater as part of our long-term home electrification goals. I had a long conversation with Frans about the options and decided to go with an 80-gallon 30-amp Rheem unit. (And BTW Frans walked me through diagnostics to be sure it wasn't the relief valve or something else that could be repaired on my gas water heater.) Frans was also very helpful at lining up all the rebates and tax credits available for my situation. Kevin did an expert installation taking about a half day. I was especially impressed by how he combined the existing recirculation pump and a new thermostatic mixing valve so that I can set the water heater temperature to a scalding 140F, dial the mixing valve to something like 110F, and have absolutely consistent hot water that never seems to end. This has been a big quality of life improvement over the fussy old water heater. Actually, at the beginning I was noticing temperature fluctuations and I convinced myself that it was a defective check valve on the recirculator pump. Technician Peter came by, verified this, replaced it quickly, and it's been perfect since. One other thing I would like to call out. It turned out that the first Rheem unit was defective. The heat pump compressor would run, but it didn't actually produce any meaningful heat and you could tell by feeling that the air blowing out was ambient temperature and not at all cold like an air conditioner. (After a few hours, the unit would give up and kick in the expensive resistive heating elements, so at least there was hot water.) This felt like the system had somehow lost most of its refrigerant. I talked to Rheem technical support about this, and they tried gaslighting me that it was actually working just fine (after replacing thermistors, which didn't help). Frans and team went to bat for me and ended up getting authorization to swap it out with a replacement unit that has been working perfectly. My only nit would be that it took longer than I would have liked to handle the permit. Normally I wouldn't care, but a signed permit was required for a $2000 rebate, and I was concerned about the rebate's looming expiration date. That said, the permit got filed, the inspector was highly complimentary about the installation, and now the rebate check is on its way! Thank you Frans and team! read more

My water heater was leaking badly from the pressure relief valve. In the past I had experienced many dishonest and overpriced home repair services. This time I asked AI for an "honest plumber". AI recommended a particular service in San Carlos, CA due to their numerous good reviews and high rating on Yelp. Two of their technicians came for the inspection. They said the water heater was bad and the incoming water pressure regulator was bad. They quoted $12,250 for parts and labor. That's twelve thousand. I was stunned. Next I called Better Water Heaters in San Jose, CA since they also responded to my Yelp posting. They answered the phone right away and scheduled an inspection for a couple days later. Their nice technician gave a completely different diagnosis which sounded very reasonable. (The fault was not simply the pressure relief valve on the water heater). He came back in a couple days and fixed the problem in 30 minutes for $620 without replacing any expensive parts. The water pressure at the heater is now normal and the leak stopped. Better Water Heater is truly an honest plumber and a rare breed of home repair service nowadays. read more

We woke up this AM to NO HOT WATER. My first thought was that our pilot light went out. Went to the water heater (WH) to confirm and noticed condensation in the window where you look into see the pilot light. Along with water on the ground, great... Yelp sent out 5 quotes, with Frans from Better Water Heaters was the 1st to call. I told him my issue with my WH along with asking him if a leaky upstairs toilet might have been root cause. He set me up with an appointment early afternoon. Colin got to my house when he said he would. I showed him my WH and he quickly pointed out the leaks on top along with signs of deterioration on my water fixtures. The obvious indicating that I am going to need a new WH. Colin presented me with 2 options as replacements WH. I ended up going with the same style 50g as I had before. Thinking we are going to have to go another day or so without hot water, Colin informed me that in his van he had a new 50g ready to go! He was able to remove my old WH and install a new replacement within 2 hours. Not only was the price for installation and new WH competitive, he got us set up ASAP. To top it off, Colin was aware of our toilet issue and offered to take a look to see if he can fix it for us FOC. Better Water Heaters specializes in WH, but they are offering to try to fix our toilet? Talk about going above and beyond to keep a customer happy. The issue wasnt resolved, but the point was that Colin was willing to spend the extra 15 minutes evaluating a broken toilet. Hopefully, I wont have to reach out to Colin at Better Water Heaters for any WH issues in the near future, but would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a new WH in the south bay area. Derek S read more

First, I'll cut to the chase. You DO NOT want to hire them. Let me explain why. We hired them to install a new hydronic Bradford White water heater in our condo. Since this water heater is for a hydronic system, we asked the owner, Frans Cartwright, in advance if he knew how to do this kind of installation. He said absolutely, we do these all the time. Its no problem. So believing that, we had him proceed. Big Mistake The first guy he sent out not only was kind of grumpy, but he also had some lines to the heating system reversed, something I noticed after he left. So we called Frans, and he sent out another guy to fix it. The second guy hooked the lines correctly to the water heater, but in the process created some weird and flimsy external plumbing in the outflow line, which goes to the heat exchanger. Not knowing any better, and assuming the second guy knew what he was doing, we didn't say anything, thinking it was now all OK. Immediately after that, the heat in the house stopped working. We contacted Frans, who said 'well, you need to call a heating company to fix that. We don't do heating, and we installed the new water heater correctly'. Famous last words. The heating system in the house runs off the hot water heater, which provides hot water to a heat exchanger to heat the house. So we called a heating guy, and he couldn't figure out what was wrong. And we went without heat for quite a while. But then we found another HVAC guy, who said he had experience with hydronic systems like this, and said he also did water heaters. That plumbing experience the second guy had turned out to be the key. So the new HVAC guy came out, and determined that the pump motor for the heating system had burned out. He ordered a new pump, then came back and installed it. But the new pump wasn't able to get any water from the hot water heater in to heat the house. The HVAC guy was initially puzzled. Everything appeared to be OK, so why?? Why is no water coming in? The pump was working properly, but with no hot water, no heat. Then he went out to look at the water heater. He started checking Frans's weird and flimsy plumbing in the outflow pipe, which should provide hot water to the heat exchanger. He started feeling around the pipe, then looked at it a little harder and said 'wait, what's this??'. He motioned me to come over, saying "come over here, you've got to see this." He said, "feel this part of the pipe". It was hot. He said "now feel the same pipe on the other side of this valve that's in the line". The other side wasn't even warm, but since it was the same pipe, with just the valve in between, it should have been. I said "what's that valve that's in the line?" He said "that's a backflow valve". And then he said: AND IT IS INSTALLED BACKWARDS!!! Which means because of that, it was always shut off, and no hot water WAS EVER going to get into the house to heat it! He said that explained everything, including why the pump motor burned out. He said the pump motor burned out trying and trying and trying to pump water, which could never get there because the backflow valve, which Better Water Heaters installed, WAS INSTALLED BACKWARDS, completely shutting off any water flow. I said "are you sure it's backwards?" He said "absolutely, I put these things in myself. That's why one side of the pipe is hot, and the pipe on other side isn't! But it's completely unnecessary here. It should never even have been put in. Obviously, the guy who did this (that's Better Water Heaters!), didn't know what he was doing." So he took out all the weird plumbing and the backflow valve that Better Water Heaters had installed BACKWARDS, and neatly re-plumbed everything. That's all he needed to do. This time, when the heating system was turned on,.....IT WORKED PERFECTLY!! Lots of hot air in the house! The bad news? That'll be $1200 please. :( So you don't want to hire these guys. They're incompetent. They don't even know which way to install a valve. And fixing their mistakes is going to cost you a lot of money. In this case, $1200. So no Frans, you DIDN'T do it correctly. And we're going to tell all our neighbors. So unless you want to go through the misery we went through, DO NOT HIRE THEM. read more

I spoke with Franz, and he explained several options we could do. Based on space limitations at my house i went with his recommendation. I was very happy that they sell Bradford white water heaters. I found those are better than what the big box store sells. The installation was friendly, fast, and clean. Overall very pleased with the service even though it came a day early. I would recommend this company to anyone looking to have a new water heater installed. Good job, A+ thank you! read more

Time to write an update, since its 2022 and the owner Franz said I needed a new water heater, back in 2014 and I told him he was wrong. Guess what? I was right, and I've never seen a water heater, and am no expert. So that was a full eight years ago, and its the same water heater, working great. Franz told me it might last a few more months; please read my previous review. Bottom line is they will lie to you, and tell you that you need to replace a water heater when it doesn't need replacing. Absolutely sad that he tried to take me for $1300, and should be not trusted, when they tell you the same lies. Do yourself a favor, and don't call these guys, unless you fancy being taken for a ride. Thank you yelp for keeping this review alive. read more

We are extremely disappointed with our experience purchasing a water heater last year. We called around for a new water heater, because we had some intermittent issues with our existing unit. We called for a few quotes and decided to go with Better Water mainly because the multiple rebates on it were so great, and they were an approved contractor to help us apply for the rebates. We bought the water heater based upon their recommendation. They also provided a dedicated person to handle our rebates, so we thought there be no issues with the paperwork. There were 3 rebates in total, and we received two with no issues and finally received the largest of the third rebate a few weeks ago. We were so excited, but it quickly turned to disappointment when we found it was sent to us by mistake. A technician was originally dispatched to investigate and the recommendation was to purchase a different unit at a higher cost as well as time to redo installation and permits. We declined because it seemed risky as there was no guarantee that it would still be approved. Overall I wish there was more transparency on the rebates upfront as we would have definitely gone with a more economical solution. read more

Good service, good quality product, knowledgeable installer, higher price was worth it. Thanks to Rolando read more

Happy with my service! I purchased a water heater from Better Water Heaters 6 1/2yrs ago and more recently the water was only getting lukewarm. Peter came out and discovered it was the pilot light not functioning properly. He mentioned that even though it's past the warranty that maybe Bradly White would still honor it. I gave them a call and they agree to supply the part for free so I just had to pay for labor! Peter was fast and happy to answer any questions I had. I really appreciate the tip he gave me about the company extending the warranty. Thanks again. read more

If you have a Rinnai heater and need to get it serviced/maintained, or are looking to install a new tankless Rinnai, these are THE guys for it! Had an error that is pretty generic, and they troubleshot/fixed the problem that two other 5 star rated places on here could not! Shout out to Kevin too, he was great! read more