Harvest Hills Plumbers Calgary — Plumbing and Heating for Homes Built in the 1990s
A plumber in Harvest Hills, Calgary will mostly be working in houses that went up in the 1990s. The community lies south of Country Hills Boulevard NE, north of 96 Avenue NE and east of Harvest Hills Boulevard N, with Aurora Business Park off its southeast corner. Of the occupied homes counted in the City of Calgary's 2021 profile, 72% date from 1991 to 2000, against 15% for Calgary as a whole. For most addresses, then, the place to start is whatever pipe, venting and equipment went into a 1990s house, and what has been swapped out since. FlameTech's Red Seal journeyman plumbers and Alberta-licensed gas fitters look after the water and the gas side of that.
Most of those houses stand on their own lot. Single-detached homes make up 76% of the community, well above the 55% citywide, and most of the rest are row homes and apartments in low-rise buildings, with a few semi-detached pairs. Eighty-four percent of households own their home, compared with 69% across Calgary, so in most houses here the person living with a dripping valve or a tired furnace is also the one who decides how it gets fixed.
In Harvest Hills we take on furnace replacement, Poly-B repiping, hot water tank replacement, new gas lines and drain cleaning, and we cover the rest of NE Calgary too, including Coventry Hills on the far side of Country Hills Boulevard.
We dispatch from both Calgary and Airdrie. Phone 587-834-3668 and describe what the pipes, the heating or the hot water are doing. Quoting costs nothing, and no work begins until you've seen the number and agreed to it.
Grey pipe you can't identify, a furnace you've stopped trusting or hot water that runs out too soon? Call 587-834-3668 about your Harvest Hills home; the quote is free.
Call 587-834-3668“Shaun showed up right on time and was able to complete repair in a short amount of time. A number of residents including myself have worked with Shaun over the last few years and highly recommend him for any of your plumbing and heating needs.”
Darryl Schmidt
Calgary · 1 year ago
Poly-B and Harvest Hills' 1990s build-out
Polybutylene, known as Poly-B, went into Canadian houses as water supply pipe up to about the middle of the 1990s. When it leaks, the usual culprits are the crimped joints and the lines close to the water heater, and home insurers and buyers' inspectors often ask whether a house has it.
Where the 1990s sit in the Poly-B years
This community mostly went up during the decade Poly-B was being phased out. A house finished early in the 1990s has a real chance of having it. One finished later in the decade is more likely to have PEX or copper, though that's a tendency and not a rule, and a share of these houses have been repiped already. Your build year narrows the odds; only looking at the pipe settles it. Poly-B is normally grey and flexible, with metal bands crimped over the joints, and our Poly-B repiping page explains how to tell it apart from PEX.
Repipe now or later
There's no date by which Poly-B gives out, and a lot of it in Calgary is still holding. What usually forces the decision is a leak, an insurance renewal or a sale. If you'd like to think it through first, our article on replacing Poly-B or leaving it sets out both sides, and Poly-B replacement cost in Calgary covers what moves the price. Repiping a whole house costs $3,500 to $7,250 as of September 2026. Expect the upper end for a larger two-storey with the basement ceiling finished, since there's more wall and ceiling to open up and close again; a modest house with the basement joists still exposed usually comes in lower.
Furnaces and water heaters in a 30-year-old house
A house from the middle of the 1990s is about 30 years old now. Whether its furnace and water heater are original or replacements, the rating plate or install sticker on each one tells you its age, and that's worth knowing before anything quits on a cold night.
Replacing the furnace
A furnace should be sized to the house it heats: the insulation, the windows, how much air leaks in and out, and Calgary's winter design temperature. The output printed on the old unit tells you very little, especially if the attic insulation or windows have been upgraded since the 1990s. Furnace installs run $4,500 to $9,600 as of September 2026, and the final number comes down to the equipment chosen and what the venting and duct connections need. We're an authorized AirEase dealer, and the furnace replacement page walks through the rest.
Water heaters for the household you have now
The census puts the typical household here at 2.7 people (2.6 for the city), and one in eight households has five or more people. If yours is one of the bigger ones and whoever showers last gets lukewarm water, a larger tank may be the answer. Before upsizing, though, rule out the tank itself: a heavy layer of sediment or a broken dip tube can make a properly sized tank behave like a small one. Installed prices for a standard atmospheric tank as of September 2026 are $1,950 for a 40-gallon, $2,100 for a 50, $2,450 for a 60 and $2,990 for a 75. A larger tank usually burns more gas per hour, so we confirm the gas line and the vent can carry it before we quote. There's more on hot water tank replacement, or see leaking water heater if yours is already dripping.
When the furnace leaves the chimney
Many houses of this era were built with the furnace and a gas water heater venting into one shared chimney. Today's high-efficiency furnaces leave that chimney behind and vent through their own plastic pipe, usually to a side wall. Once the old furnace is gone, the water heater may be the only appliance left on a chimney that was sized for two, and on its own it may not send up enough warm exhaust to keep the flue drawing. The danger is combustion gas spilling back into the basement instead of leaving the house. That's why we look at the water heater's venting as part of any furnace change in a house like this; see furnace installation. Had the furnace replaced a while back with no one checking how the water heater now vents? Get that looked at. Whatever the setup, keep working carbon monoxide alarms in the house.
Hard water
The City reports water hardness by treatment plant rather than by neighbourhood, but north Calgary generally gets Bow River water treated at the Bearspaw plant, and the City's 2025 results for Bearspaw put hardness at 141 to 200 mg/L as calcium carbonate. That mineral settles as scale in the bottom of a water heater, inside faucets and fixtures, and inside tankless heaters. A water softener takes the hardness out where water enters the house, and installs are $2,250 to $3,050 as of September 2026. It's an option rather than a must, and if your setup doesn't call for one we'll say so.
Row homes, low-rise apartments and the newest builds
Nearly a quarter of homes here aren't detached houses: row homes, apartments in low-rise buildings and some semi-detached pairs. A smaller group was finished between 2016 and 2021. Each changes who owns what and what to check before calling anyone.
Condo and townhouse owners
Apartments in low-rise buildings make up 10% of homes here and row houses 9%. If you own one as a condo, the corporation's bylaws set out where its responsibility stops and the owner's starts. A shut-off valve, a water heater or a branch line inside your own walls may be yours, while a riser shared with the units above may not. Your condo board or management company can confirm that, and their answer settles who books and pays for the repair. Anything on the owner's side, we'll quote free.
Homes built since 2016
The 2021 census counted 12% of homes here as built in 2016 or later. Those houses were plumbed long after Poly-B left the market, so that question doesn't apply. If yours is still young, read your new home warranty paperwork before calling any trade. Alberta requires new homes to carry warranty coverage that includes the plumbing and heating systems for a set period, and outside work during that time can complicate a claim. Once you're past it, or for anything it doesn't cover, we're glad to quote.
Gas lines and drains
Two kinds of work that come up in any house of this age: adding a gas appliance, and drains that slow down or back up.
New gas lines for a range, dryer or garage heater
A new gas cooktop, a gas dryer in the laundry room or a heater out in the garage each needs its own line branched off the house's gas piping. That's permitted work for a licensed gas fitter, and not a weekend project. Our Alberta-licensed gas fitters run those lines, and a garage heater installation is $4,500 to $6,500 as of September 2026. If you ever smell gas, don't flip switches or use a phone inside. Get everyone out, then call your gas utility or 911 from outside.
Slow drains and repeat clogs
A slow tub, a kitchen sink that keeps backing up, a floor drain that gurgles when the washer empties: we clear fixture drains and the main line, and when a blockage keeps returning we put a camera down to find out why. Roots from mature trees working into the joints of a main drain are one common cause. See drain cleaning. Our sewer work stops at clearing and inspecting. When the camera turns up pipe that has cracked, shifted or caved in, we show you the recording and explain what it means, and the fix itself goes to a sewer contractor who digs or lines pipe, since we do neither. Separately, a backwater valve is a check valve fitted to the main drain so that, if the municipal line surcharges in a heavy storm, the flow can't reverse up into your floor drain. It's quoted free once we've looked at how your drain is laid out.
Questions about plumbing and heating in this community
Is Harvest Hills in NE Calgary or north Calgary?
Both, depending on who's describing it. Every residential street address in the community ends in NE. The City of Calgary groups it in its North sector, and it shares the Northern Hills Community Association with Coventry Hills, Country Hills and Panorama Hills.
Does a 1990s house here have Poly-B?
It might. Poly-B was installed until about the mid-1990s, and 72% of homes here date from 1991 to 2000, so houses from early in the decade are more likely to have it than later ones. Some have been repiped since. Grey, flexible supply pipe with metal crimp bands at the joints is the usual sign; the Poly-B section above covers the next steps.
Which pipes am I responsible for in a condo or townhouse?
Your board or management company can answer that from the corporation's bylaws. They'll tell you which lines, drains and equipment the corporation looks after and which are the owner's. For anything that's yours, call 587-834-3668 or use the form on this page for a free quote.
Do you repair sewer lines?
No. On sewer lines our work is limited to clearing them and running a camera through. A cracked, sagging or collapsed line needs digging up or relining, and we don't do either. We'll hand over the inspection video and a plain explanation, which is what a sewer contractor will want to see before quoting the repair.
Do you work in nearby communities?
Yes. Our NE Calgary page covers the quadrant, including Coventry Hills north across Country Hills Boulevard. We also work in Panorama Hills, which carries NW addresses, on the other side of Harvest Hills Boulevard. We dispatch from both Calgary and Airdrie.
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