Soft water
Swampscott takes all of its water from the MWRA. It is soft, about one grain per gallon. Scale builds slowly in a tank here, and the MWRA says a softener is not needed. Flush the tank once a year and have the anode rod checked. The four jobs that keep a tank from leaking.
The housing
Swampscott has about 6,600 housing units. Fifty-eight percent are single-family, 23 percent are in two- to four-family houses and 19 percent are in larger buildings. The median home was built in 1955, and six in ten homes heat with gas.
In a two-family, find out which heater serves which floor before anything fails. In an apartment building, a heater above another unit has to sit in a pan. Heaters on upper floors.
Gas and rebates
National Grid supplies both gas and electricity. For a gas smell, leave and call 911, then National Grid at 800-233-5325. Mass Save's 2026 rebate on a heat pump water heater is $750.