Creighton Court hot water issues: What we know about timeline, repairs
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — After over 80 Creighton Court units lost full hot water service earlier this month, authorities are shedding some light on the issue that dates back to December 2025.
Last week, issues with a heating coil in Richmond's Creighton Court neighborhood led to residents of all 83 occupied units losing full hot water service for an unclear period of time.
According to the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA), units near Creighton Road, Kane Street, North 29th Street and Walcott Place experienced "reduced hot water temperatures" after a heating coil and several pipes failed while serving the domestic hot water system.
The RRHA on Saturday, Feb. 21, said residents first reported problems in mid-December 2025 when the hot water in their units was lukewarm. Further inspection from the RRHA found that the boiler water temperature ranged between 105 and 115 degrees, below the required 120 degrees for hot water.
RRHA said it continued to receive reports from residents regarding insufficient hot water temperatures and decided to install an additional pump for the 1950s boiler system in late December 2025.
"Despite the installation of the new pump, the water temperature still did not rise above 120 degrees," the agency said, noting that residents may have experienced periods of cold water in late December and January when maintenance work was underway.
RRHA said after 2026's first winter storm in January, it received additional requests to address hot water problems in residents' units. At this point, the agency determined that the coils inside the boiler needed deep cleaning and the gaskets needed to be replaced.
RRHA installed the new pump in late January during the second winter storm. However, crews failed to properly seal the "old-aged" boiler after they installed the new gaskets. The agency said water temperature ranged between 97 and 115 degrees and that residents may have experienced cold water during this period.
After crews installed the gaskets and coils on Feb. 9, the gaskets once again failed to seal the boiler, RRHA said. This led to the hot water being fully shut off for the first time since the reports came in. Officials said previously, hot water was not turned off, but instead failed to reach the required temperature.
"The boilers at Creighton were installed in 1950's, and replacement parts for this system have become extremely difficult to obtain for many years," the agency said.
Last week, crews picked up the replacement boiler doors and completed their installation on Feb. 17. Hot water was restored for all residents, with temperature readings reaching 135 degrees at 7 p.m. the same day, per RRHA.
"The ultimate solution to the problem is to speed up the demolition of not only Creighton Court, but all of the Big 6 housing sites (which are the oldest public housing infrastructure from Miami up to the state of Maine), and to relocate our residents," RRHA CEO Steven Nesmith said in a statement to 8News.
The first phase of the demolition of Creighton Court began in May 2022. Five other housing sites managed by RRHA are Fairfield Court, Gilpin Court, Hillside Court, Mosby Court and Whitcomb Court.
