Is no hot water a real plumbing emergency?
If you are reading this blog because you have no hot water and wondering if having no hot water is a plumbing emergency, read on.
Generally speaking, if you have time to research a problem on Google, it’s probably not a plumbing emergency. Although technically speaking, having no hot water isn’t exactly a plumbing emergency as the house is not being flooded and no lives are in danger, but still…
If you have no hot water and wish to pay after-hours emergency call-out charges we guarantee a 1-hour service.
But if you can wait to normal business hours for solving why you have no hot water we guarantee a same day service at Whywait Plumbing, but this may not be the case for other Gold Coast plumbing companies.
Even though no hot water usually isn’t an emergency in a technical sense, at Whywait Plumbing, we made the decision many years ago that we don’t consider hot water to be a luxury, so, for this reason, we offer a same-day guarantee for a situation where your household is without hot water.
So why have you no hot water?
In our 41 years of experience at Whywait Plumbing, we have found the most common causes of having no hot water are:
· Faulty element or thermostat (possibly both)
· The relief valve is constantly leaking
· Faulty tempering valve
· The Off-Peak relay switch failed to activate
· Insufficient sunlight to heat solar hot water
· Demand exceeds the capacity
· Leaking hot water service
No Hot Water Troubleshooting Checklist
Follow the DIY checklist below before calling for help, starting with
Locate your hot water service and check the following:
- Check for any leaks in the tank, especially around the electrical box. (Do not remove the cover, as doing this will expose live wires)
- If the relief valve is leaking, activate the lever until the water runs out in a continuous flow, then return the lever to the original position and see if the leak stops.
- A faulty tempering valve usually results in tepid water rather than no hot water. You can test this by activating the relief valve and checking if the water in the tank is more desirable than the water delivered at the taps.
- If your hot water service is connected to off-peak electricity, check with your energy supplier to see if there have been any problems, in your suburb, with transmitting to the relay switch at your home.
- For solar hot water, check for foliage blocking sunlight to panels, that panels are clean and if cloudy or wet, that the booster switch is on.
Locate the meter board and check the following:
- Check the hot water switch is in the on position.
- Check for a tripped circuit breaker or a blown a fuse.
Emergency or not, having hot water that is not hot enough or no hot water can be unpleasant and inconvenient. However, you will be happy to know in most instances, it is a simple fix.
Handy Tips
Whywait Plumbing recommends that all adults residing in a household should, at a bare minimum know the following:
- Where the main water isolation valve for the property is located.
- How to turn off the water at the water meter (usually found in a turf box on the property boundary).
- How to turn off the water at the hot water service.
- How to isolate the power to the house at the meter board.
Should an emergency arise where any of the above is required having, this prior knowledge will allow the situation to be handled quickly and calmly, allowing you to make the situation safe and minimise damage to the property.
