by Gary Mays | Jan 11, 2014 | Bathrooms, City of Gold Coast, Cold Water, Consumer Issues, Gold Coast Plumbing, Health Issues, Hot Water Temperature, Plumbing Legislation, Queensland Government, Sustainable Plumbing, Water
You can save money by washing your hands in cold water because research just released by Dr Amanda Carrico a research assistant professor at Vanderbilt University proves you do not need hot water to wash your hands.In fact using hot water is completely unnecessary to hygienically clean your hands and is simply wasting expensive hot water.
Washing hands with soap and cold water is as effective as hot water.
In reality all you need is cold water, a good quality soap, friction to scrub your hands for 20 seconds followed by rinsing them off and then finally completely drying your hands. The research proves that this simple hand washing procedure is just as effective as using hot water plus it reduces your energy costs and saves you money.
The heating costs of hot water are the largest single energy cost in most Queensland homes with it generally being around 30% of your electricity or gas bill. Eliminating hot water from your hand washing routine will reduce your electricity or gas bill by 5%.
Dr Carrico’s research is conclusive that you cannot tolerate water hot enough to kill germs on your hands. Hot water at 55°C will kill some germs but even at that temperature will scald you. In fact constantly using hot water to wash your hands can irritate your skin and adversely affect the outside protective skin layer.
In Queensland the laws were changed in 1995 requiring tempering valves to be installed on new hot water system installations covering new homes, non like for like replacements or when moving an existing hot water system to a new location on the property. This means that it is law that hot water delivered to bathrooms used primarily for personal hygiene purposes be regulated by use of a tempering valve or a thermostatic mixing valve so that is does not exceed 50°C. Therefore unless your home was constructed prior to 1995 it is unlikely that your hot water is hot enough to effectively kill germs on your hands even if you could tolerate the high temperatures.
By all means use warm water if it is more comfortable for you but there is no need to have it hotter than 40°C which the research proves is just as effective as water at 55°C in removing germs from your hands.
By Gary Mays
by Gary Mays | Oct 29, 2013 | City of Gold Coast, Consumer Issues, Health Issues, Plumber Brisbane, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Maintenance, Queensland Government, Rain Water Tanks, rainwater tanks, Sustainable Plumbing
Rainwater Tanks… Maintaining Clean Water
It is now six years since the water management crisis in South-East Queensland was at its peak. Rainwater tanks were the flavour of the month and were being sold and installed by every man and his dog, aided and abetted by generous subsidies from the Queensland Government.
Unfortunately, the panic by the Queensland Government at the time and the relaxation of standards with countless shoddy installations are now beginning to bite. This has led to a situation where government agencies are picking up the pieces to repair lousy policy.
Fortunately, there have been some significant publications and research undertaken by the Environmental Health Committee (enHealth) of the Australian Health Protection Committee, which has published an excellent publication called “Guidance on Use of Rainwater Tanks”, which we advise you to download and read if you have a rainwater tank by clicking here.
Rainwater tanks in an urban environment were always going to be an issue concerning maintenance, and the plumbing technicians at Whywait Plumbing Services see this issue constantly:
- Poorly maintained or completely failed rainwater tanks are everywhere
- Pumps that no longer work are commonplace
- Leaking rainwater tanks are commonplace.
Rainwater tank systems are generally low maintenance, but they are not maintenance-free. Routine rainwater tank maintenance is required to maintain the life expectancy of the infrastructure and ensure compliance with the Public Health Act.
Maintaining your rainwater tank is your responsibility as the property owner. The biggest threat posed is the potential to create a health risk in the tank, becoming a breeding site for mosquitoes. All rainwater tanks must be fitted at all times with the following:
- Inlet strainers that are 1mm or less to prevent mosquitoes from entering the tank
- All overflows must be installed with a high-flow flap valve that automatically closes and seals when not in use to prevent mosquitoes from entering the tank.
The recommended maintenance required, plus the routine regularity, are listed below:
- Three months: remove debris from gutters, downpipes & first flush devices. Check insect screens on rainwater heads & overflow outlets are debris free, intact & in good condition.
- Six months: check roof & flashing’s, remove overhanging branches & repair any defects. Check for signs of mosquitoes & larvae, plus any evidence of animal, bird or insect access. Check for algal growth & if detected, locate & seal the light entry point. Check tank, fittings & pump for any leaks or defects & repair.
- Twelve months: check the integrity of the tank support base, check pumps & solenoid valves along with all plumbing bypass or backup systems & repair as necessary.
- Twenty-four months: check the sediment level in the tank and water quality. Generally, accumulated sediment should be removed from the tank at intervals not exceeding three years.
If you are no longer using your rainwater tank, you must cut it up and remove it from the site. It cannot be allowed to become a mosquito breeding site or a home for vermin such as rats or mice.
by Gary Mays | Apr 17, 2013 | Consumer Issues, Insurance, Plumbing Legislation, QBCC, Queensland Government, Sustainable Plumbing
Here at Whywait Plumbing, it gets very frustrating at times when clients want us to install products they have purchased “cheaply” online or bought from non-specialist outlets who import cheap non-compliant product. All products we install are required by law to have a WaterMark certificate and a WELS water rating label certificate. It is illegal for licensed plumbers to install non-compliant products.
WELS Water Rating Label certificates are on every product plumbers install. Unfortunately, many of our clients are confused by the rating 
requirements, which is mainly because there has been little public education and therefore awareness.
In 2005, the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme as a joint initiative of the Australian, State, and Territory governments became law. Under the WELS Water Rating Label scheme, products that use water must be tested under standardised conditions in a laboratory by a government regulator. Each product is given a comparative rating score of between one and six stars to indicate the product’s efficiency. The WELS Water Rating Label certificates or stickers are very similar in appearance to those used for energy rating labels for things like fridges, dishwashers, washing machines, heaters and air conditioning units.
The WELS Water Rating Label scheme was instituted to eliminate and educate on unnecessary water use. The WELS Water Rating Label scheme on current projections is expected to save 800,000 megalitres of water by the year 2021 across Australia. This equates to about a billion dollars of water bill savings. A further little-known benefit of the WELS Water Rating Label scheme is a reduction in greenhouse gases which is estimated to equal to the removal of 90,000 cars from Australian roads every year.
When the plumbers at Whywait raise the issue of WELS Water Rating Label certificates, many of our clients ask which products have to have WELS labels? Very simply under the WELS Water Rating Label scheme, the bathroom products that need to be rated in Australia are:
- shower heads
- tapware
- toilets pans, cisterns and urinals
Installing water-efficient showerheads in your home’s bathrooms account for 25% of the water savings under the WELS Water Rating Label scheme. This is due to the significant difference in the amount of water used in showers with a standard showerhead using between 15-25 litres of water per minute. A 3-star rated showerhead only uses 6 or 7 litres per minute which means installing a water-efficient showerhead reduces your water consumption in the shower alone by 40%. Using less water in the shower has the added benefit of reducing your electricity or gas bill as you use about 40%-60% less hot water.
All taps used in kitchen sinks, bathroom basins, bathroom showers and laundry troughs must be WELS rated. However, a bath tap although in all likelihood WELS rated does not require to be flow reduced as you use the same amount of water to fill a bath no matter what. Flow restrictors mean the bath takes longer to fill. Most mixer taps and many combination tap spouts have an aerator that is combined with a flow restrictor, installed on the spout outlet that mixes the water with air, and in the process can cut the amount of water used from 15-22 litres per minute down to around 3 – 6 litres per minute.
Finally, the WELS Water Rating Label scheme requires flushing toilets and urinals to meet a basic level of water efficiency. Waterless urinals are not required to have any form of WELS certification. Concerning toilets, an average flush is calculated as one full flush and four half-flushes. Therefore a compliant toilet suite cannot exceed 5.5 litres per average flush. Water-efficient toilets make up a significant amount of the water savings under the WELS scheme with savings of 22% as a traditional toilet used 11 litres per flush compared to water-efficient dual flush toilets that use, on average less than 4 litres per flush. This adds up to savings of 52 litres of water per person, per day, and can add up to $800 less in your water bill over ten years.
When choosing plumbing products for your home, it is a good idea to take into consideration the information on the WELS Water Rating Label and the savings you can make over the long term on both water and electricity or gas bills.
For more information on the WELS scheme, go to waterrating.gov.au.
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
