Heartland Plumbing and Heating Ltd.

Heartland Plumbing and Heating Ltd. Local plumbing and heating contractor

Plumbing, heating, air conditioning and water heater emergency repair services serving Fort Saskatchewan and the Heartland.

Tankless heater replacement. Most homeowners have most likely heard of the brand name John Woods when it comes to water ...
04/13/2026

Tankless heater replacement.

Most homeowners have most likely heard of the brand name John Woods when it comes to water heaters. They were a very reliable and trusted water heater for many years. But in April 2006, AO Smith purchased the company and name of the John Woods water heater.

Since 2006, AO Smith has kept the John Woods name and branding active since it is so well known and trusted when it comes to water heating.

After having to replace a John Woods tankless water heater recently, I found out that AO Smith has discontinued making the John Woods tankless water heater and now only produces the AO Smith tankless water heater.

On Friday, we installed our first AO Smith tankless water heater in Fort Saskatchewan at one of our customers houses. I was actually quite impressed with the design and engineering of the AO Smith Tankless water heater. The best part is that it comes with a cartridge to condition the water so that descaling is no longer required.

Good Friday emergency drain cleaning job on sewer main. Caused my washing machine lint build up along the main line. The...
04/04/2026

Good Friday emergency drain cleaning job on sewer main.

Caused my washing machine lint build up along the main line. The sewer mean was cast iron pipe and you can see in the pictures how the cast iron is breaking down. This break down causes rough/sharp edges along the pipe walls. These rough edges collect solids that are flushed through the pipe and eventually cause an accumulation that will plug the sewer main line pipe.

If this becomes a continuing issue, it's time to consider replacing the sewer with an ABS pipe or line the pipe with HDPE.

Why concentric vents are an undesirable choice for venting termination in a furnace, boiler or hot water tank installati...
04/02/2026

Why concentric vents are an undesirable choice for venting termination in a furnace, boiler or hot water tank installation.

Over the years of doing service calls on high efficiency appliances, we have found concentric vents to be problematic for various reasons.

First, what is a concentric vent? If you look at the pic below, the termination that has an "arrow head" type shape is a ventilation combing the exhaust and air intake into one specially designed termination.

During cold winter days, we have found the exhaust short circuits and gets sucked into the intake. The hot moist air then condensates causing the air intake to fill with ice and thus causing the gas burning appliance to fail on pressure switch safety lockouts.

Another issue with concentric vents is they are highly restrictive. Today we replaced a concentric vent, a customer had issues with for years causing that to fail on pressure switch failure lockout, with a traditional 2 pipe system. The vacuum on the air intake pressure switch (normally closed switch) went from 1.7" wc to 1.13" wc.

Black Iron Pipe union has leaks. A BIP union is a great fitting for separating two pieces of pipe with an access to work...
04/01/2026

Black Iron Pipe union has leaks.

A BIP union is a great fitting for separating two pieces of pipe with an access to work upstream and downstream of the union conveniently.

The BIP union can be broken or taken apart only so many times before the union faces wear out. Once worn out, the union won't seal properly and leak gas.

At Heartland Plumbing and Heating Ltd, we have a company policy to replace the BIP union during any job we do when the union is broken. This ensures a proper seal and no gas leaks.

Replacing or thinking of replacing your bathroom faucet? We get asked all the time by our customers what brand we recomm...
03/31/2026

Replacing or thinking of replacing your bathroom faucet?

We get asked all the time by our customers what brand we recommend.

Moen is our brand of choice. We highly recommend Moen for excellent longevity, warranty and ease of installation.

On a slow day, working on the work trucks to make them even more efficient!!
03/29/2026

On a slow day, working on the work trucks to make them even more efficient!!

Have you ever seen rust inside your furnace and wander what is causing it? The most probable cause is a leaking heat exc...
03/29/2026

Have you ever seen rust inside your furnace and wander what is causing it?

The most probable cause is a leaking heat exchanger and more specifically the collector box. The collector box is on the final stage of the secondary heat exchanger where condensate is collected and then drained through a condensate trap into your floor drain.

Most times this can be solved by replacing the gasket that connects the collector box to the end of the secondary heat exchanger.

Ongoing issue with AO Smith hot water tanks gas valve failure. It's very common to get the 6-1 error code in a new AO Sm...
03/28/2026

Ongoing issue with AO Smith hot water tanks gas valve failure.

It's very common to get the 6-1 error code in a new AO Smith HWT. The error code related to TFI soft lockout which means "trial for ignition " lockout after three consecutive fails to prove flame after a heat cycle is initiated.

If this happens to your HWT, you will see the error code flashing in the gas valave. Reset the tank by cycling the power on and off. Het on your belly and look through the square sight glass at the bottom of the tank.

You will hear the inducer motor come on and run, the igniter glow red, hear the gas valve open and the flame ignited.

By code, the flame has to prove ignition within 4 seconds on a hot surface ignition system. If the gas valve via the flame sensor does not proven ignition after three trials, the gas valve will lock out on the error code 6-1.

You can try cleaning the flame sensor but from our experience, 95% of the time the issue is with a faulty gas valve and not the flame sensor.

We get a lot of calls, especially in the early fall time regarding a hydronic system component that makes a loud awkward...
03/27/2026

We get a lot of calls, especially in the early fall time regarding a hydronic system component that makes a loud awkward noise that customers find unusual.

It's actually a normal occurrence of a hydronic heating system.

The component that makes the noise is called a fluid feed tank (a lot of plumbers call it an axiom feed tank but that's just the manufacturer of the feeder).

The purpose of the fluid feed tank is to pump in small amounts of fluid to maintain a set point of system pressure. The set point is set by the fluid feed tank.

Your hydronic heating system is most likely equipped with auto air vents. Every time the air vent fills with air and is released, the system pressure drops by a very small amount. In turn, the axiom feed tank pumps in the required amount of fluid to make up for the volume/pressure lost when air is expelled from the system.

So when you hear the fluid feed tank operating in small bursts from time to time, it's actually a normal operation. The fluid feed tank is the clear/white and green container in the pics below.

Of your system is equipped with a pressure gauge, the normal operation should see a set point of 12 psi given your expansion tank is sized correctly.

Have you recently tiled your bathroom floor and notice your toilet leaks when you flush it? A very common problem when c...
03/26/2026

Have you recently tiled your bathroom floor and notice your toilet leaks when you flush it?

A very common problem when customers install new flooring and use tile.

The tile, when installed, now puts the toilet fl**ge below the finished floor. This causing the wax ring to not properly set on the toilet bowl base.

Proper installation practices should allow the toilet fl**ge to be mounted on top of the finished floor or have the fl**ge extended approximately 3/8" above the finished floor using fl**ge extensions.

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Fort Saskatchewan, AB
T8L0B5

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