by Gary Mays | Mar 29, 2013 | Climate Change, Consumer Issues, Hot Water Heat Pump, Hot Water Solar, Hot Water Temperature, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Queensland Government, Sustainable Plumbing
The Easter long weekend is only surpassed by the Christmas and new year period as a time when families travel to be together. It is also the start of the hot water season when clients are reminded of the ever-increasing hot water electricity cost.
For the plumbers at Whywait Plumbing, Easter is a busy period with blocked drains being the most common problem followed by hot water problems.
Unlike Christmas, there is always a spike over Easter in emergency callouts for faulty hot water units. That is because Easter is generally much cooler than Christmas. Around April, we all suddenly realise that cold weather is on the way. Every year we notice the signs with an increase in emergency service callouts with the problem being no hot water. Even in the relatively mild climate of South-East Queensland no-one willingly wants to have a cold shower.
Frequently we cannot help but shake our head’s at all the stress, the waste of time and money these emergency service calls represent to many homeowners. Sadly many of us do not pay too much attention to the myriad of household and mechanical systems that provide so much comfort and convenience in our modern lives. We take for granted our water heaters, toilets, mixer taps, and air conditioners that is until they stop working. Then come the panicked call and a repair job that always ends up costing more than we expect.
Showers are the activity where we use the most hot water. Generally, 40% of the water consumed in the shower is hot water. This is why there is a strong correlation between the length of a shower and the hot water electricity cost.
If your home is like many in South East Queensland you are producing hot water from an electric hot water service connected to tariff 11 with a shower rose you love because you get a deluge of water from it at 23 litres per minute. If your shower is being utilised four times a day for an average of 5 minutes per shower, then those showers are costing you $1125 a year in electricity costs and $107 in water usage costs.
Essentially 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity is used to produce 15 litres of hot water using an electric element hot water service. With electricity prices expected to increase 21% on 1 July and a further 40% over the next three years, there is considerable scope for reducing your hot water electricity cost.
One option is to change your electricity and water guzzling shower rose to a water efficient shower rose using only 9 litres per minute. Based on the standard example above this would immediately reduce your electricity costs to $440 and water cost to $42. If you are able to change your hot water service from tariff 11 to tariff 33, then you will save an additional 40% on electricity costs.
The best option and the one we recommend is the long-term sustainable option utilising heat pump technology. Heat pump technology involves replacing your old fashioned energy-hungry electric hot water service to the highly efficient Sanden “Eco®” Plus Heat Pump hot water system.
Electricity costs have become a political hot potato, with state and federal governments playing the blame game in blaming each other for the doubling of electricity prices in recent years.
Hot water electricity cost is one area you can reduce your electricity costs substantially by being smart about how you heat your hot water and use it. Hot water generated by electric elements is something we always took for granted. That is until surging electricity price increases made us all take another look at our increasingly energy-intensive lifestyles.
by Gary Mays | Mar 22, 2013 | City of Gold Coast, Cold Water, Consumer Issues, Insurance, Leaking Pipes, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Maintenance, Queensland Government, Water Leaks
At Whywait Plumbing the phones began to ring as soon as the water bills from Gold Coast Water arrived in late January. The most common issue was one of bill shock where residents received bills in the thousands of dollars when their normal bill was around $600.
This was brought home to us here at Whywait when our IT Manager, Brad Horrocks rang about the bill his pensioner father, Neal had received which was $4980 when his normal bill was never over $600. Unbeknown to Neale he had an underground leak in the polypipe watermain coming into his home in Coombabah. This unfortunately is common in the coastal areas such as Coombabah where the water basically soaks into the sandy soils rather than bubbling to the surface.
Neal was fortunate that Gold Coast Water gave him a rebate of $3658 but he was still left to pay a bill of $1322. The sting in the tail of this rebate is that Neale is not eligible for further rebates should he have further leaks in his watermain for 3 years. This puts Neale and all of those like him who are recipients of the 60% rebate from Gold Coast Water where the bill shock is caused by a broken pipe in a terrible dilemma. This is caused by water meters only being read every 3 months and bills being issued every 6 months.
Unless you read your water meter on a regular basis which we strongly recommend then you can suffer a major break in your watermain and not be aware of it for at least 90 days when you receive a letter from Gold Coast Water advising you that you have very high water use readings. If you have already used your once every three years rebate for broken pipes then you will pay for every litre of water that leaks into the ground.
However we do have a solution for everyone who has experienced the drama of water bill shock. Prevention is always the best solution. AquaTrip water leak detection and control systems are the solution. AquaTrip is a permanently installed leak detection protection system that quietly provides protection in the background and under normal conditions you will never know it’s there.
AquaTrip monitors the flow of water into your property, and will shut off the water automatically in the event of a tap left running, a burst pipe, or if a tap, fitting, pipe, toilet, cistern or appliance is leaking. This will save water, reduce wastage and most critically minimise property damage.
AquaTrip is an active water leak detection system that costs less than the excess charges from Gold Coast Water or the excess on one insurance claim and a fraction of the cost of most annual home insurance premiums. In most cases insurance companies do not cover the cost of watermain leaks or the resultant water costs. AquaTrip will provide your home with a lifetime of protection against such water leak events. AquaTrip is a one time insurance policy.
If Neal Horrocks had an AquaTrip installed he would not only have the peace of mind provided by AquaTrip but would be potentially $700 better off today as he would not have had to pay a water bill of $1322.
For more information on installing an AquaTrip “insurance policy” at your home or building Whywait Plumbing today for a lifetime of protection.
by Gary Mays | Mar 18, 2013 | Bathrooms, 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, Queensland Government, Sustainable Plumbing, Whywait Plumbing
Cheap plumbing fixtures on-line and the desire for a bargain has created an on-line love affair to compare prices of supposedly comparable products and services.
It is a guarantee no matter how much you pay for any product or service you will always find it cheaper on-line. This has given rise to an increasing belief by many consumers that they have paid over the odds and have been ripped off because they found allegedly the same product or service on-line “cheaper”.
It is worth remembering that “cheap” has two meanings. Where plumbing products and services are concerned “cheap” is responsible for some colossally expensive problems. In fact a large amount of work undertaken by Whywait Plumbing is because of consumers who took the “cheap” option. The old adage that you get what you pay for is certainly truer today than at any other time in our history.
Plumbing products that are sold in Australia are subject to stringent testing, designed to ensure that they meet Australian Standards. Once plumbing products meet the required Australian standards they are granted a WaterMark. The product whether its a tap or a toilet or a hot water service or a urinal must display the WaterMark logo as pictured to the right on the product by law.
If you are buying plumbing products on-line from overseas or if your builder or plumber is doing this to cut costs then it is a sure bet that it will end up costing you much more than the money saved in repairs and replacement.
Always make sure you understand what you are paying for and ensure that it has a compliant Australian WaterMark approval. Using a non compliant non WaterMark approved product will null and void your insurance policy if the product is defective and causes property damage.
When you are upgrading or replacing or renovating you will comes across a lot of great looking plumbing products to select from and ones that make great claims in terms of durability and long-life. Usually they are much “cheaper” and are tempting to purchase for the price being offered. Generally where mixer taps and toilet suites are concerned the cheaper the price means corners have been cut in their production. If you cannot see the WaterMark on the product then do not purchase it.
Unfortunately in Australia it is not illegal for non compliant products to be imported and sold. It is however illegal for plumbers to install them. Listening to unqualified salesman who tell you how wonderful the cheap plumbing product is have lead many people to have expensive repairs undertaken. It is always best especially if renovating to stipulate any product supplied for your job meets or exceeds the relevant Australian Standard and or WaterMark for plumbing products.
By Gary Mays
by Gary Mays | Dec 10, 2012 | City of Gold Coast, Consumer Issues, DIY Plumbing, Health Issues, Insurance, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Maintenance, Queensland Government, Sustainable Plumbing, Whywait Plumbing
The plumbing staff at Whywait Plumbing every day see the results of the growing popularity of DIY home renovations, encouraged by an “explosion” in television programmes on home renovation. Despite the fact that it is illegal throughout Australia for anyone other than a licensed plumber to work on potable water systems or sanitary drainage systems there is an increasing number of people embarking on DIY renovations of their homes who purchase all of the fixtures and fittings and then set about installing them connecting to the existing water supply and sanitary drainage system.
It is frightening to see the number of cross connections that occur with wrongly sized pipes being connected to the hot water supply or the recycled water supply or the rain water tank supply by mistake. Even more frightening is illegal cross connections with sanitary drainage pipes being connected to storm water pipes leading to raw sewage being increasingly discharged into creeks, streams and rivers and ultimately into the ocean. This illegal sewage discharge has a devastating effect on the environment and especially on animals, birds and fish.
These illegal drainage cross connections mean that sewage discharge water that should be piped into the sewage system is being fed into ground and coastal waters. As the amount of cross connections increase there is a growing problem causing the degradation of smaller creeks, streams and rivers that are threatening invertebrate ecosystems and depleting fish stocks. The sewage removes oxygen, encouraging eutrophication resulting in increasing growth of algae and as a result the water becomes stagnant. Invariably this changes the ecosystem and the invertebrates which results in a bland range of invertebrates being available as food source which are crucial for young fish. These illegal cross connections have other unforeseen effects such as the problem of endocrine disruptor’s, which is the impact of medications such as contraceptive pills which can change the sex of the fish.
There has always been a problem was illegal cross connections. This has resulted in local councils and water authorities undertaking smoke testing of the sewer drains to detect smoke rising out of the illegal connections. Unfortunately this only detects illegal storm water connections into the sewer or sanitary drain system. Locating sewer being discharged into the storm water system is much harder and frequently only occurs when a plumber is called to a property and finds the cause of a blockage is actually a cross connected drain. There are increasing concerns that the problem could become even greater with the popularity of DIY home renovations to blame.
In the United Kingdom the problem is more pronounced as they have no plumbing licencing system resulting in almost anyone being able to undertake plumbing work. Dr Robert Keirle, pollution programme manager at the Marine Conservation Society, recently stated, “As DIY has become more popular over the years, aided by an explosion in property programmes on television, the problem has been growing. People see a pipe, think it’s the right one to attach to, and untreated water from washing machines, but also toilets, ends up going to the wrong place. It is also probably a result of the times we live in, with people unable to afford to call in tradesmen to do the plumbing.”
This same statement can also be attributed to Australia with the DIY enthusiasts unaware of the dangers they create by doing it themselves. Unfortunately most plumbing is out of sight in the walls, floor or underground resulting in the out of sight, out of mind impression. Unfortunately this is not the case and one result of not using licensed plumbers to undertake the work is that if there is ever an insurance claim resulting from the illegal plumbing work the likely scenario is that the insurance policy will prove to be null and void. This results in unfortunate home owners being out of pocket to the tune of many thousands of dollars all due to the deluded self belief that it is okay to do it yourself.
The natural human instinct of the DIY enthusiast’s is that its only me and what effect will that have, because of course one cross connection does not have a particularly dramatic effect, but in reality it is death by a thousand cuts to the environment. In reality it is like having a sewage treatment plant that does not work and just sends everything out to sea. Very simply there is an increasing amount of people undertaking DIY home renovations who think the law does not apply to them and do not understand that there is a huge difference between the pipe connecting to the sewer and the pipe that gets rid of rain water into the storm water system.
by Gary Mays | Sep 26, 2012 | Consumer Issues, Health Issues, Insurance, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Maintenance, Water Hammer
For the plumbing technicians at Whywait Plumbing listening to clients recollecting the days gone by when high water pressure was the norm are a frequent occurrence. For many high water pressure had been a bonus, especially when water was virtually provided for free. High water pressure enabled many to stand in one spot and water the whole garden or to literally pressure clean the car or driveway.
Both Gold Coast and Logan regions had high water pressure delivery, frequently in excess of 800kPa and often as high as 1100kPa. In reality high water pressures caused many problems with damage to pipes, appliances, taps, valves and fittings from water hammer which also reduced their operational life plus caused excessive noise in the water reticulation system.
Legally under AS/NZS 3500.1:2003, Plumbing and Drainage – Water Services, the relevant clause is 3.3.4 which states, “Maximum pressure within buildings – Provision shall be made to ensure that the maximum operating pressure at any outlet, other than a fire service outlet, within a building does not exceed 500 kPa.” This was further reinforced with amendments in 2010 to clause 3.2.1 which states, “The maximum flow rate from a shower, basin and kitchen sink or laundry trough outlet shall not exceed 9 L/min.”
These very clear definitions within Australian Standards create a dangerous situation that many home and building owners are unaware of. This is because they have the incoming mains water pressure set above the maximum legislated operating pressure of 500kPa level for most connected plumbing fixtures. These plumbing fixtures include dishwashers, washing machines, mixer taps, refrigerators with water purification and hot water systems.
Having excessive water pressure can cause you more problems than you may be aware of. Aside from damage to pipes, appliances, taps, valves and fittings from water hammer which also reduced their operational life plus caused excessive noise in the water reticulation system, you may also be voiding your property insurance and manufacturer’s warranty on any number of these expensive household appliances.
Most insurance policies and appliance warranties are void if your water pressure is above the recommended operational levels. This will always come back to the requirements of Australian Standards which is of course 500kPa.
Most hot water system warranties are void above 500kPa once again with the reference point being the requirements of Australian Standards. Many people are fooled into thinking they have a compliant system as they have pressure limiting valves installed. In reality the majority of these valves over 3 years old are faulty and in need of replacement.
As council water retailers will not guarantee supply pressures the onus is back on home and building owners to ensure they are compliant with Australian Standards. Most homes and buildings constructed since 2003 have pressure reduction valves installed after the water meter but these frequently require recalibration. Homes and buildings constructed before 2003 seldom have a pressure reduction valve installed which means they are susceptible to the fluctuations in water supply pressure.
If you think a flooded house cannot happen to you then read the story Faulty Plumbing Will Flood Your Home where faulty piping in the ceiling flooded part of a home and resulted in water damage in excess of $50,000. Luckily this homes water pressure was reduced to a compliant level of 500kPa and their insurance policy covered the damage.
If you are unsure of what your water pressure is and whether your system is compliant in regard to your insurance policies then contact Whywait Plumbing Services now to carry out a comprehensive analysis of your incoming water pressure.
by Gary Mays | Sep 10, 2012 | Consumer Issues, DIY Plumbing, Health Issues, Insurance, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Maintenance, Queensland Government
At Whywait Plumbing we have lost count of the amount of flooded homes we have attended.
A flooding house caused by faulty plumbing leaves home owners angry, frustrated and often soaking wet. Whywait staff frequently have to deal with distraught homeowners who are heartbroken by the loss of family heirlooms such as photos and documents.
The problem with most plumbing is that it is hidden in the walls or the roof or the floor or is underground. While some plumbing problems are preventable it is impossible to deal with things you cannot see like pipes in walls or in the roof space.
There are steps every homeowner should take inside their home that ultimately can save you a lot of time, money and aggravation. At Whywait Plumbing we recommend you take the following steps to prevent your home being flooded from inside:
- Know where to turn off your water – always know where the main water supply valve is to your home and practice turning it off to ensure you know how to do it. At regular intervals check that the valve is working. When going on holiday turn off the water supply to your home to ensure you do not return home to a flooded house.
- Check washing machine & dishwasher hoses – the hoses to these essential household appliances are invariably manufactured from plastic or rubber. These machines are constantly left turned on to the water supply meaning the hoses become part of the plumbing system. In case of an emergency it pays to know where the valves are to isolate the machines plus check the valve is working at regular intervals. At regular intervals check the hoses for bubbles or soft spots or if there is moisture on the hose as these are signs of a potential problem looming.
- Check hot water tanks – if you hot water tank is inside your home usually in a cupboard or occasionally in the ceiling it pays to check it at regular intervals. A hot water tank will generally last 7 – 15 years depending on location and water quality. Once the tank is over 10 years of age it is living on borrowed time. Always ensure you know where the isolation valve is for the tank and check it at regular intervals to ensure it is working.
- Check toilets – your toilet cistern is connected permanently to the cold water supply and will either be connected to the cistern tap under the cistern by copper pipe or a stainless steel flexible connector. Leaks are common at the connections so it is wise to check the cistern tap is working and to check the copper pipe or flexible connector for kinks or signs of moisture as these are signs of a potential problem looming.
- Check sinks and basins – your kitchen sink and your vanity basins are frequently connected to the hot and cold water supply with stainless steel flexible connectors. These connectors are one of the most frequent causes of flooded homes. Frequently there are no isolation valves under the sink or basin so you need to check these connectors at regular intervals for kinks or signs of moisture as these are signs of a potential problem looming.
You cannot prevent everything and unfortunately there are no warnings to tell you something is about to burst.
You can take precautions and check the most common problems outlined above. As an added precaution you can install an AquaTrip.
AquaTrip monitors the flow of water into your property, and will shut off the water automatically in the event of a tap left running, a burst pipe, or if a tap, fitting, pipe, toilet, cistern or appliance is leaking. This will save water, reduce wastage and most critically minimise property damage.
The most important thing though is to ensure every person living in your house knows where to isolate the main water supply and how to turn it off. If you are not sure of how to isolate your water supply call Whywait Plumbing now.
