A heater that will not light, water that runs warm and then goes cold halfway through a shower, a drip underneath the unit, or an electric cylinder that has stopped heating. Tell us the make, the age and exactly what happens, and you get a free quote before anyone travels.
Free and without obligation.
Water heater repair covers ignition failures, water that will not heat, unstable temperature and leaks, on gas esquentadores, electric storage cylinders and boilers. Where the local water is hard, the most common underlying cause is limescale in the heat exchanger; where it is soft, ignition faults come first. Handyman Algarve quotes water heater repair in the Algarve for free, in English or Portuguese, with the part priced before it is fitted.
Hard water leaves a deposit inside the heat exchanger, the coil the water passes through as it is heated. A thin layer of scale insulates the metal and slows heat transfer, and you feel the result before you see it: the water takes longer to come through hot, the temperature swings while somebody else opens a tap, and the appliance burns more gas for the same shower. In a hard water zone this happens within a few years, which is what makes a descale part way through the life of an appliance money well spent. The catch is that the Algarve is not one water zone, and the published figures are further apart than the reputation suggests.
Checking batteries, confirming the bottle is not empty and opening the hot tap fully are all things anyone can do. Taking the burner assembly apart, touching the gas valve or altering how the appliance is connected are not, for two reasons: a poorly sealed reassembly leaks, and an appliance running badly or with inadequate ventilation produces carbon monoxide, which has no smell. That is information, not alarm. A properly installed and serviced heater is safe for years. If a request falls on the wrong side of that line, you are told, and the work goes to someone qualified for gas.
As of 2026, the quote has two parts: the visit with the diagnosis, and the part. What moves it is the make and model, whether parts are stock items or have to be ordered, the age of the appliance, access to where it is installed, and whether the job is a single component or a full descale of the heat exchanger. If the appliance is beyond sensible repair, you are told at that point, with replacement quoted alongside rather than discovered after paying for a diagnosis.
Make, model and age in the first message often save a visit: with those three, it is frequently clear straight away whether the part still exists. See how it works for the process from request to finished job.
Free and without obligation.
We reply within one business day, usually much faster.
It is the instantaneous gas water heater that most Portuguese homes use instead of a stored hot water cylinder. It sits on the wall, usually in the kitchen or a service balcony, and heats water only while a hot tap is running. The alternative you will also see here is a termoacumulador, an electric storage cylinder. They fail in completely different ways, so it is worth knowing which one you have.
Under about ten years old, with a part that is readily available, repair without hesitation. Past twelve or thirteen years, with a scaled heat exchanger or parts that have to be hunted down, the repair money is a deposit on the next appliance. The honest answer needs the make, model and age, and that is what you are told before anything is ordered.
It depends which supply zone the house is on, which is not the answer most people expect. In a hard water zone, limescale in the heat exchanger comes first by a wide margin: a thin deposit inside the coil is enough to slow the heat transfer, so water takes longer to warm, the temperature swings, and the appliance burns more gas for the same shower. In a soft water zone such as Portimão, where the utility published 30 mg/L in 2026, scale is not the story and ignition faults matter more. In a bottled gas house that often means flat batteries or an empty bottle.
Three things, none of them inside the gas circuit. If the house runs on a bottle, check it is not empty and the valve is open. Check the ignition batteries, which many models use and which last about a year. And open the hot tap fully, because most instantaneous heaters need a minimum flow before they fire, and low pressure alone can stop them lighting. If none of that is it, the next step is a technician.
Ten to fifteen years is the normal range in Portugal, and in a hard water zone the scaling of the heat exchanger pushes an appliance towards the shorter end. After that point the deciding factor is usually parts rather than the fault itself: an appliance with parts still on the market repairs well, while a discontinued model forces a quicker choice between improvising and replacing.
In a hard water zone, yes, and it is the single maintenance job that most extends the life of the appliance. Where the mains water is soft, which the published figures show is the case in Portimão, it is not the priority. A descale part way through its life restores heat transfer, steadies the temperature and reduces gas use. It is not urgent in the way a leak is, which is why it is easy to postpone for a decade, and why so many heaters are replaced for a problem that was preventable.