Lodi is a dense borough on the Saddle River, and most of its homes went up before 1970. The river is the local story: it crested at 13.94 feet in Hurricane Floyd and at 10.27 feet in January 2024, with basements and lower-level apartments under water.
Flood record
The Saddle River gauge in Lodi floods at 6 feet. These are the highest crests the National Weather Service has on record there, plus January 2024.
13.94feet · Floyd record
What we see here
The patterns below come from the town's housing and utilities. The technician still checks your house before saying anything about it.
Homes & neighborhoods
Lodi was incorporated in 1894 and fits 26,206 people, by the 2020 Census, into about 2.29 square miles. Housing data built on American Community Survey figures puts 16.68% of homes at 1939 or earlier and 53.19% between 1940 and 1969, so about 70% predate 1970. City-data gives a median build year of 1957 for houses and 1963 for apartments.
Most of it isn't single-family. The same data counts 22.66% of homes as detached houses and 52.51% as duplexes, converted homes and small apartment buildings. Those buildings often have shared basements, shared drain lines and a tenant who isn't the person paying for the repair.
A two-family or small apartment building often means several water heaters and heating systems in one basement, and usually one sewer line to the street. When one unit's equipment fails, it is worth checking the others while someone is already there. For hot-water heat, see boilers and heating.
In Lodi, basement equipment also has to be thought about against the river. If a furnace or boiler sits on the floor in a basement that has taken water, its next replacement is the time to talk about raising it. Homes built without ducts need a plan before central air or a heat pump goes in, and our AC installation page covers how we price that.
PSE&G supplies gas here. Its work stops at the meter; piping on the house side belongs to the owner, and that is where a new range, a dryer or an oil-to-gas conversion calls for gas line work.
Water & utilities
The Saddle River crests at 13.94 feet, the top crest on record.
A 13.5-foot crest, second highest.
Large sections of Lodi are left under several feet of water.
A 10.27-foot crest and at least 35 rescues.
Over $840,000 for sewers and chronic flooding.
PSE&G supplies electricity and gas in Lodi. The Passaic Valley Water Commission operates the water system, treating Passaic River water at its Little Falls plant and blending it with North Jersey District Water Supply Commission water for most Lodi customers. In the 2024 testing round, none of the 35 homes sampled exceeded the lead action level, and PVWC keeps an online service line inventory if you want to know what feeds your house. Sewage goes to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission.
The Saddle River sets the rhythm here. The National Weather Service puts flood stage at the Lodi gauge at 6 feet, and its record crests are 13.94 feet in Hurricane Floyd on September 17, 1999, and 13.5 feet in Hurricane Irene on August 28, 2011. In Ida in September 2021, large sections of Lodi were left under several feet of water.
It hasn't let up. On January 10, 2024 the river crested at 10.27 feet. Basements and lower-level apartments flooded, Main Street closed from Avenue E to Central Avenue, water reached doorsteps on Money and Sidney streets, and emergency officials reported at least 35 rescues. It flooded again that March. Later that month, reporting said the borough would get over $840,000 in federal funding toward sewers, chronic flooding and drinking water.
If your basement takes water, start with a sump pump with battery backup, since storms that flood basements also cut power. Lodi's code bars groundwater and roof runoff from the sanitary sewer, so a pump has to discharge to a storm sewer or approved outlet, not a laundry drain. A backwater valve helps if water comes up through a floor drain, and a camera inspection through sewer line repair shows the condition of an older lateral. For a burst pipe, emergency pipe repair is covered by our guarantee: on site within 90 minutes of your emergency call, or $50 off.
Permits
Most equipment swaps in Lodi fall under New Jersey's minor work rule, N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.17A. Replacing a water heater, boiler, furnace or air conditioner with one of like capacity is minor work: the borough is notified before the job starts, the permit application follows within five business days, and the construction office still inspects the finished work. In plain English, the job can start right away, the paperwork follows, and an inspector still checks it.
Work that is not like-for-like goes through a regular permit before it starts. That includes new gas piping, moving equipment to a new location, or a new circuit for an outdoor condenser. Rescue files permits when a job requires one, and you can ask us which category your job falls into before it is scheduled.
Lodi's Building Department is at One Memorial Drive, Room 204, reached at 973-859-7410. Our NJ permits guide explains the process in more detail, and our Bergen County page covers the neighboring towns.
When a replacement needs a permit, Rescue files it and coordinates the inspection. Straight repairs usually don't need one, and we tell you which yours is before you commit.
Before we arrive
Three things that limit the damage while the van is on the way.
A burst pipe or a failed water heater is usually stopped at the main shutoff, typically where the water line enters the basement. Our shutoff guide shows how to find it. Then call us.
Don't flip switches or use the phone inside. Leave the house, then call your gas utility's emergency line or 911 from outside. Once the utility has made it safe, we handle the repair. See gas line service.
Check the thermostat batteries and setting, the furnace or boiler switch and breaker, and a clogged filter on a furnace. If it's still down, call. No heat in freezing weather gets a van now, any hour. See furnace repair.
How we price
Every visit works the same way, in Lodi and everywhere else we go.
If you decide not to go ahead, the $79 is all you pay. Every job carries a one-year parts and labor warranty, and when a job needs a permit we file it as part of the work. Technicians are background-checked. NJ Master HVACR Contractor Lic. #19HC00145700 · bonded · insured · $2M liability coverage.
Because PSE&G supplies both electricity and gas in Lodi, its residential programs are the ones that apply here, including rebates on qualifying furnaces, boilers, central air, heat pumps and water heaters. Eligibility and amounts change, so check before you buy.
The federal 25C tax credit for this equipment ended for anything placed in service after December 31, 2025, so the utility programs are what remain. Current details are on our NJ rebates page.
Everything we do
Every service page carries published prices. What changes from house to house is what the technician finds, and you see that in writing before anyone starts. See also our Bergen County page.
Usually yes, but a like-for-like swap is "minor work" under N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.17A. The borough is notified before work begins, the permit application is filed within five business days, and the work is inspected. Lodi's Building Department is at One Memorial Drive, Room 204, 973-859-7410. Rescue files permits when a job requires one.
No. Lodi's code says groundwater, stormwater and roof runoff may not enter the sanitary sewer; they have to go to a storm sewer or an approved outlet. If your pump is piped to a laundry tub or floor drain, have it re-routed.
Stay out of standing water near electrical equipment, and have a technician check any gas appliance or heating system that got wet before it runs again. After that, look at a sump pump with battery backup, a backwater valve if water came through a floor drain, and raising floor-level equipment at its next replacement. If you are a renter, tell your landlord first.
Dispatch runs 24 hours a day with a real person answering, and an emergency in Lodi goes out from our shop at 2 John St in Haledon. Our published commitment is a technician on site within 90 minutes of your emergency call, or $50 off the job.
The diagnostic is $79. A licensed technician finds the actual problem and prices the repair in writing before any work starts. Go ahead with the job and the $79 comes off the total; decide not to, and $79 is all you pay.
Yes. NJ Master HVACR Contractor License #19HC00145700, bonded, and insured with $2M in liability coverage. Our technicians are background-checked, and the work carries a one-year parts and labor warranty.
A real dispatcher, any hour of any day.
