Plumbing permits, and which authority yours goes to
A like for like water heater swap is permitted work in California. Which office you file with depends on your address, and getting that wrong is the most common administrative mistake made on plumbing work here.
Permits, and which authority yours goes to
Most homeowners are surprised that a like for like water heater swap is permitted work in California. It is. The 2025 California Plumbing Code took effect on 1 January 2026.
City of Tustin Building Division
Submittals go through the Citizen Self Service portal. The permit counter answers on 714-573-3130, Monday to Thursday 7:30am to 5:30pm and Friday from 8am. Plan checks not finished at the counter come back within about 10 working days on a first submittal and 5 working days on a resubmittal, with an expedited option for an added fee.
Worth knowing. The City has published a warning about permit fee fraud. Tustin collects fees only through the Citizen Self Service portal or in person at the City Hall finance counter, and will never ask you for a bank routing number or a wire number. If a contractor asks you to wire permit money to them directly, stop and call 714-573-3130.
County of Orange
North Tustin, Cowan Heights, Lemon Heights and Panorama Heights are unincorporated. Permits are filed with the County, not the City. This is the single most common administrative mistake made on plumbing work in this area, and it surfaces at inspection rather than at filing, which is the expensive point to find out.
What an inspector looks at on a water heater
- Two seismic straps, one across the upper third of the tank and one across the lower third, the lower one at least four inches above the controls. Missing or badly placed straps are the most common reason these inspections fail.
- A thermal expansion tank on any closed system, meaning any system carrying a check valve, backflow preventer or pressure regulating valve. This is the second most common failure.
- A temperature and pressure relief valve with discharge piping run to an approved location, terminating between 6 and 24 inches above ground.
- A drain pan with a drain anywhere a leak could reach structure, such as a closet, an attic or an upper floor.
- Correct venting and combustion air. Tustin requires combustion air openings in two or more openings of roughly equal area, one within 12 inches of the enclosure floor and one within 12 inches of the ceiling.
- Tank insulation to R-12 external, or R-16 combined internal and external, with the first five feet of both hot and cold pipe insulated to a minimum of R-4. The cold side is the one people miss.
- A pressure regulator if incoming static pressure runs above 80 PSI.
- For gas units in a garage, the ignition source at least 18 inches above the floor unless the unit is FVIR certified.
Converting from tank to tankless usually means resizing the gas line for the higher BTU input plus new venting, and that is often the larger part of the cost. On efficiency, the 2025 Title 24 cycle made heat pump water heaters the prescriptive baseline for new residential construction across most California climate zones. Replacing an existing gas unit in an existing home is an alteration, and gas remains permitted. An open or missing permit surfaces during escrow, and unpermitted water heater work is a routine finding in Tustin home sales.
Water where it should not be?
Call now. A person picks up, day or night, and you will get a straight answer about what it probably is before you spend a dollar. Serving 92780, 92782 and North Tustin 92705.
Referral service disclosure. Tustin CA Plumber is a local plumbing referral and information service. We are not a licensed plumbing contractor and we do not perform plumbing work ourselves. Nothing on this site is an offer to perform work or a quotation. All plumbing work is carried out by independent contractors licensed by the California Contractors State License Board in classification C-36, operating under their own licence, bond and insurance. Your assigned contractor is responsible for providing their CSLB licence number on your written estimate and invoice, and you should verify it at cslb.ca.gov before work begins. California contractors are required to display their licence number in advertising under Business and Professions Code section 7030.5.
Code, permit and utility information on this page was last reviewed September 2026. It is general guidance, not legal advice, and not a substitute for confirming requirements for your specific property with the City of Tustin Building Division, the County of Orange, or your water provider. Prices shown are typical ranges for this area, not quotes. Every job is priced in writing after inspection.
Serving readers in Tustin, CA 92780 and 92782, and unincorporated North Tustin 92705, including Old Town Tustin, Tustin Ranch, Tustin Legacy, the Red Hill corridor, Broadmoor, Cowan Heights, Lemon Heights and Panorama Heights.