Descaling on Monroe water
Manufacturers write one descaling interval for the whole country, and it is set for hard water. Yours comes from the City of Monroe, and where that supply is soft the exchanger fouls considerably more slowly than that schedule assumes.
We will tell you honestly where you sit on that, because the alternative is descaling a unit annually that does not need it. Two caveats worth knowing before you skip it entirely: some manufacturers require documented annual servicing to keep the heat exchanger warranty valid, which is worth more than the service costs, and a property on a private well is a completely different conversation from one on the municipal supply.
- Descale on an interval that matches your actual water rather than the manual's default.
- Inlet filter clean, which is the most commonly skipped job and the cheapest.
- Flow rate and combustion check, so a declining unit is caught before it fails in January.

What Monroe itself changes
The housing in Monroe
Monroe needs two answers rather than one. 37.0% of the housing was built between 1990 and 2009, which is the standard second-heater cohort, but 25.7% predates 1970, concentrated in the historic core and the older rental stock. Those two groups want different things: the newer subdivisions are planned replacements and straightforward repairs, and the older core is emergency work, code catch-up and landlord calls.
Where the heaters sit
Garage and closet in the 1990s and 2000s subdivisions. Crawlspace through the older core, where access is genuinely tighter and priced separately.