by Gary Mays | Aug 29, 2014 | Gold Coast Plumbing, Insurance, Leaking Pipes, Plumber Brisbane, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Water Leaks
Negligence causes plumbing emergencies as a fact I am becoming acutely aware of with over half of the plumbing emergencies we attend having been caused due to a plumbers negligence in the initial installation.
A large part of this negligence is driven by plumbing work being undertaken to a cost and not to the legislative requirements or standards that plumbers are legally obliged to comply with.
As I constantly have to remind clients who are victims of this negligence in near new or recently renovated buildings – everyone who worked on your home did so because they were the cheapest not because they were the best qualified and skilled to undertake the work. Sadly that is the reality in the construction industry.
The most common plumbing emergencies we see that are in most cases attributable to deliberate negligence by the plumber who did the initial work are:
- leaking water-mains laid in rock and backfilled with rock with no compliant bedding or backfill material
- broken house sewer drains once again laid in rock and backfilled with rock
- mixer taps installed without isolation valves
Negligence by a plumber in installing the examples above are just the tip of the iceberg that we see daily but all cause a great deal of damage and are frequently expensive to repair.
The pressure by builders on plumbers to reduce prices and take “shortcuts” increases daily but is not an excuse to ignore undertaking the work in as set out in AS3500 and called into law through the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002.
Under common law, the term “negligence” generally describes damage causing conduct that arises because of the defendant’s carelessness or failure to take reasonable care.
As an example, a plumber who installs a plastic polypipe water main straight onto the rocky ground and then backfills it with the same spoil he dug out has breached his duty of care. As a professional licensed plumber, he is fully aware that the job is not in accordance with clause 5.12 of AS3500 Part 1 for Water Services which states:
The water services shall be surrounded with not less than 75mm of compacted sand, or fine-grained soil, with no hard edged object permitted to come into contact with or resting against any pipe or fitting.
Material used for final backfill shall be free from rock, hard matter or organic material and be broken up to contain no soil larger than 75mm.
As you can see the wording and diagram in Australian Standards are quite specific on how your water main should be installed. They are specific requirements under law not options the plumber can choose to obey.
Very simply if your water main is not installed as above the licensed plumber installing it has done so knowing it is noncompliant and that it is reasonably foreseeable that failure and damage will occur.
In conclusion, I reiterate that most plumbing emergencies are caused by negligence and we are prepared to assist you if you have the willpower to legally seek compensation. It’s your choice but the industry will only be cleaned up when plumbers who continually break the law are hit in their hip pocket.
by Gary Mays | Aug 13, 2014 | Consumer Issues, DIY Plumbing, Gold Coast Plumbing, Health Issues, Insurance, Leaking Pipes, Plumber Brisbane, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Legislation, Plumbing Maintenance, Plumbing Renovation, Queensland Government, Sustainable Plumbing, Toilets, Water, Whywait Plumbing
Not Compliant? It’ll Be Expensive!
Plumbing Costs for Correct and Compliant Work
Plumbing is expensive if not done correctly and compliantly. Quality plumbing is not a luxury but is a legal requirement under the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002.
Cheap, illegal plumbing repaired by Whywait Plumbing after sewer odours were escaping inside an office because there was a 35mm gap allowing the odours to escape where a 65mm pipe had been pushed inside a 100mm pipe
Not everyone can afford a Lexus GS450h at $130497 or a BMW 7 Series 760Li 4 door Sedan at $141,200, but everyone can afford and should ensure they use a quality plumbing company. So if price is your only consideration, PLEASE phone another plumber as there are plenty of “cheap”, “competitively priced”, “discount”, “budget priced” plumbers out there who will do your work to a price but for your own sake please make sure they are:
- licensed plumbers by the Plumbing Industry Council
- licensed plumbing contractors with Queensland Building and Construction Commission
- insured for your protection with at least $10 million of Public Liability
However if you have come to the conclusion that your home is your biggest investment and you want to maintain your home to peak value then please phone Whywait Plumbing provided you want the work undertaken legally and compliantly with Australian WaterMark approved materials and highly skilled licensed plumbers who guarantee their work.
Please don’t phone us and ask for free quotes or free advice over the phone as no professional plumber can give you a price over the phone without an on-site diagnosis. Believe me, every plumbing installation is a one-off no matter how similar they appear.
Just remember if you use the cheap meeting the standard market price plumber ask to visually to see their plumbing license and their contractor’s license as they are required to carry them with them by law. In the end, these licenses are put in place by the Queensland Government for your protection, not for the plumber’s protection.
If you want cheap plumbing or free plumbing estimates or discount to meet the market pricing please do both of us a favour and save each others time by calling someone else.
By Gary Mays
by Gary Mays | Jun 14, 2014 | Bathrooms, Bunnings, City of Gold Coast, Consumer Issues, DIY Plumbing, Gold Coast Plumbing, Health Issues, Insurance, Plumber Brisbane, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Legislation, Plumbing Maintenance, Plumbing Renovation
Monopoly Menace: The Unchecked Expansion of Bunnings and Masters – Its Impact on Local Communities
Fear of Bunnings and Masters getting too strong was brought home to me when attending the World Plumbing Council meetings and Singapore International Water Week in Singapore in July 2014. So many Australians are starting to ask whether we should fear Bunnings and Masters getting too stronger a monopoly.
This was the first time I had attended a World Plumbing Council meeting. I was doing so as an individual member plus an observer from the Master Plumbers & Mechanical Services Association of Australia (MPMSAA).
For me personally, the overwhelming impression after two days was the commonality of issues worldwide. Countries such as India and China admire and would love to have:
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our professional plumbing standards and laws
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our training regime inclusive of apprenticeships
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our licensing of not only plumbing companies but individual plumbers
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our regulation of all things regarding plumbing, drainage and gas fitting
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our product regulation and safety, whereas all plumbing products must be Watermark-certified
In an equally perverse way, countries such as Australia, the UK, the USA and Canada are deeply concerned about a trend in all jurisdictions that are essentially dumbing down the plumbing industry, with the common thread being:
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reducing training standards
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deregulating or removing licensing
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reducing downward regulation standards
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tolerating more and more DIY plumbing
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reducing or eliminating product regulation
The Safety Paradox: Australia’s Remarkable Record in Preventing Plumbing Disasters Despite Bunnings’ Dominance
Unfortunately, in Australia, we take plumbing for granted because our high standards, training, regulations and enforcement of laws mean that, unlike many other developing countries, people do not die from poorly installed plumbing in Australia.
Strong plumbing regulations have made the world much safer in many countries. But with that safe environment that plumbing has created has come complacency to the degree that we only appreciate plumbing when we don’t have it.
In the USA, this complacency has been capitalised on by large corporations that have built large hardware box store warehouses importing products worldwide. In addition, they have led the charge to dumb down plumbing standards to sell more plumbing products to the public at a much higher profit.
In Australia, we see the emergence of this same pattern led by Bunnings (Coles) and Masters (Woolworths).
In Australia, much of the reduction in standards is trumpeted by politicians as a reduction in red tape. Still, it’s removing public health standards that have protected the general population for 150 years.
Acutely merely reducing public health standards is not a reduction in red tape but the caving in of bureaucrats and politicians to lobbyists who convince them our laws and regulations are too strong and restrictive.
The Big Squeeze: Bunnings Embraces American-Style Supply and Installation, Pushing Manufacturers and Plumbers to the Edge
Already you see Bunnings adopting the American models of offering total supply and installation of products squeezing the margins of manufacturers and plumbers to the absolute limit, and advertising the following ….” gas and electric hot water systems. From just $249*, we will arrange your standard installation for you, and if you need an emergency replacement system, we will also organise that to be installed.”
It is utterly impossible to legally and compliantly replace an existing hot water system for $249 (or what is, in reality, $226 exclusive of GST), and Bunnings know it, which is why they have the asterisk after the price, which states…. “*Additional costs do apply beyond standard installation. For information on licensing, please view details here.”
If you click on those links, it leads you to download a three-page document full of exclusions. So very simply, the $249 price is entirely false but is designed to get you to buy from Bunnings without checking the details.
A Dangerous Duo: The Risks of Allowing Bunnings and Masters to Gain Excessive Market Power
After listening to the issues raised by delegates from USA and Canada, we have much to fear if we let Bunnings and Masters get too strong. Already we have seen the effects of supermarkets’ continuous limit of choice, and now we are on the verge of seeing it in the hardware industry. Imagine an Australia where Bunnings and Masters control the plumbing industry:
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DIY is rampant, leading to lower house prices and higher insurance policy costs
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fewer skilled jobs leading to fewer apprenticeships
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licensed plumbers working at subsistence levels based on rates decided by Bunnings or Masters as occurs in the USA where a journeyman plumber in LA is paid $20000 a year
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limited choice of product
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no Australian manufacturing further decreasing career choice and leading to increasing unemployment
We need to ensure politicians understand the implications of dumbing down plumbing because the SARS outbreak and the current Ebola virus are a warning of what faulty plumbing can create. Viruses are ever-changing and ever-mutating, and India and China are only too well aware that strong plumbing regulations guard your health.
by Gary Mays | Mar 29, 2014 | City of Gold Coast, Consumer Issues, Gold Coast Plumbing, Hot Water Heat Pump, Hot Water Solar, Hot Water Temperature, Insurance, Leaking Pipes, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Maintenance, Water, Water Leaks
During much of the year on the Gold Coast we frequently hear clients ask why do I need to maintain my hot water system there is nothing wrong with it and I’m still getting plenty of hot water. In summer it is easy to forget just how much we depend on our hot water systems for showering, bathing, cooking, washing dishes and washing laundry.
But by April many people suddenly appreciate just how important their hot water system is when it fails to deliver enough or frequently no hot water. Frequently the signs that there is a problem with the hot water system have been there for months and often would have been diagnosed and rectified as part of an annual service. Because hot water systems appear to be complicated many people adopt a head in the sand approach but in reality like most working fixtures in your home they will always benefit immensely from a bit of routine maintenance
In over 37 years of experience we at Whywait Plumbing are well aware that Murphy’s Law applies usually in a spectacular fashion to the failure of a hot water system with most of them failing and leaking late at night usually when it is very cold. In all honesty basic maintenance of your hot water system is fairly simple but vitally it can double the effective lifespan of your hot water system.
To maintain your hot water system the main things you need to allow for are:
- replacing the sacrificial anode every 5 – 7 years
- flushing out all of the minerals and sediment that over time are deposited in the bottom of the storage tank every 3 – 5 years
- have the tempering valve maintained, tested and certified every year
- flush the temperature and pressure relief valve (TPR valve) every 3 – 6 months
- replace the temperature and pressure relief valve (TPR valve) every 3 – 4 years
- replace the expansion control valve (ECV valve) every 3 – 5 years
Apart from flushing the temperature and pressure relief valve (TPR valve) all the other work is legally required to be undertaken by a licensed plumber.
Most concerning from our perspective is the failure to replace the sacrificial anode which is the biggest single cause of premature hot water service failure. Regularly replacing your sacrificial anode will extend the life of your hot water service by ten years or even more. Whywait strongly recommend that you call us to service your hot water system and replace the sacrificial anode every 5 years as the cost of the service is minor compared to the thousands of dollars replacement costs not mentioning the inconvenience.
The one task we recommend you personally undertake is to activate and flush the temperature and pressure relief (TPR) valve. TPR valves continuously work automatically discharging hot water if the temperature or pressure of the water in the storage tank gets too high. Many people fail to understand if your TPR valve is not functioning properly it can potentially cause the tank to explode.
Flushing a TPR valve is relatively easy and straightforward, plus is something you can do yourself, but if the valve is already continually dripping water in all likelihood it needs replacing. To trigger the relief valve and flush it out all you need to do is lift the lever on the front of the valve all the way open and let water discharge from the drain pipe for 5 – 10 seconds then slowly put back the lever in place.
Very simply maintaining your hot water system is an investment not a cost.
By Gary Mays
by Gary Mays | Feb 7, 2014 | City of Gold Coast, Cold Water, Gold Coast Plumbing, Insurance, Leaking Pipes, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Maintenance, Toilets, Water Leaks, Whywait Plumbing
Every business relies on many factors and unexpected disruptions are an everyday occurrence to be managed . From a plumbing perspective the best management technique is preventative maintenance which is critical plumbing advice for business owners. One of the most disruptive plumbing problems faced by business owners is a sudden leak or failure of a plumbing appliance or fixture. (more…)
by Gary Mays | Jan 27, 2014 | City of Gold Coast, Consumer Issues, Gold Coast Plumbing, Insurance, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Maintenance
What you do next when your home is damaged by a storm on the Gold Coast or Logan City is always determined by the extent of the damage. In South-East Queensland severe storms can strike at any time whilst being unpredictable and the cause of major property damage. Water inundation is often the cause of most concern and will cause the most damage to your possessions, fixtures and fittings.
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