Lake in the Hills sits about 25 minutes north of my shop in Campton Hills, in McHenry County between Algonquin, Crystal Lake, and Huntley. Most of my calls out here are water heater replacements rather than repairs, and there is a straightforward reason for that.
Water heater installation in Lake in the Hills
The village went from about 5,900 people in 1990 to over 23,000 by 2000 — at the peak of the boom it issued more than a thousand residential building permits in a single year. That means a very large share of the housing stock went up inside one decade, and every one of those houses got a builder-grade water heater at the same time.
A tank heater is built for ten to twelve years, and hard water shortens that. So those houses are not on their original heaters anymore — most are on their second or third. What they are on is a shared clock: a whole neighborhood’s worth of tanks installed within a few years of each other, cycling through replacements together. Occasionally I still find an original from the build, limping along with a rusted draft hood and a thermostat nobody has touched since the house was new, but the common call out here is the replacement of a replacement.
If that is your situation, the decision is which unit, not whether. A like-for-like tank swap is the simple path and usually a morning’s work. If you are already opening up the utility room, it is the right moment to price out tankless — the gas line and venting are most of the cost, and doing them once is cheaper than doing them twice. I will quote you both, flat, in writing, before anything comes off the wall.
I install Bradford White, Rheem, AO Smith, and the major tankless brands, pull the permits where the village requires them, and haul the old unit away. Call me at 630-310-4736.
What we work on in Lake in the Hills
- Water heater installation, tank or tankless, sized to your home and gas line
- Water heater repair, same day on most calls
- Tankless water heater installation, with the softener conversation up front
- Tankless water heater repair, descaling, flush, error-code diagnosis
- Sump pump installation and repair, primary and battery backup, before spring rain
- Drain clearing, kitchen, bathroom, floor drains, and main lines
- Sewer line repair and camera inspection
- Leak detection, acoustic and thermal locate, no wall demo
- Water softener installation and repair, sized to your actual hardness
Local water in Lake in the Hills
The village runs its own water system — wells, treatment plants, towers, the whole thing — and publishes a water quality report every year.
- Hardness varies by address. This is the one that surprises people. Several different treatment facilities feed the village system, and the village says outright that depending where you live you may already have softened water. Public Works will tell you your number. Do that before you buy a softener or commit to tankless.
- Iron and manganese are the usual deep-well companions in this part of McHenry County, and the village treats for them at the plants. On the private-well properties around the edges they are yours to handle.
- If you lose water pressure after any plumbing work, check the softener before you blame the plumber. When softener resin breaks loose it travels through the house and clogs aerators and shower heads — it looks like tiny fish eggs in the screen. An old softener that was unplugged but never physically bypassed causes its own problems, so if you are abandoning one, bypass it properly.
Housing stock I work in
- The original lakeside homes near Woods Creek Lake and the older streets that predate the boom — cottages and small ranches, some winterized over the years, with tight utility closets and half-basements that make venting the interesting part of the job.
- The 1990s and 2000s subdivisions that make up most of the village, including the developments off Pyott Road and Randall Road. Straightforward utility-room layouts, and almost all of them on their original heater or their first replacement. Most did not ship with a softener.
- The larger homes north of Algonquin Road around Boulder Ridge — bigger footprints, longer runs to the far end of the house, and the best candidates in town for tankless with a recirculation loop.