by Gary Mays | Dec 28, 2014 | Bathrooms, City of Gold Coast, Consumer Issues, DIY Plumbing, Gold Coast Plumbing, Insurance, Leaking Pipes, LPG / NG Gas Leaks, Plumber Brisbane, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Maintenance, Plumbing Renovation, Water Hammer, Water Leaks
Plumbing guarantees are a source of constant confusion. A guarantee of the fixtures and fittings installed is always carried by the manufacturer not the plumber who installed them. Ultimately all a plumber can guarantee is his workmanship and service levels.
When you use Whywait Plumbing we guarantee you many things and we stand behind all those guarantees because we want you to have a positive experience. At Whywait Plumbers Gold Coast, we enjoy a 95% customer satisfaction rating and this is why:
- We show up on time.
- We send only licensed and trained plumbers to your home, each one a full-time Whywait employee.
- Training and development are ongoing events for every member of our staff.
- You receive a guaranteed up-front price before we start any work.
- Our equipment and tools are the latest and best in the business which helps us do our job better and with a better end result.
- We keep our trucks well-stocked enabling us to complete most repairs with just one visit to your home.
We’re ensure you and our team members are protected by:
- Maintaining public liability insurance coverage for $20,000,000 that protects your property should a part fail in your home or business.
- Maintaining WorkCover insurance cover should one of our employees have an accident.
- Providing warranty protection on the jobs we undertake for you.
- Ensuring we are fully licensed as plumbing contractors in Queensland and New South Wales.
- Investing in state of the art communications systems to answer your calls and dispatch our plumbers to your home or business.
- Investing in modern vehicles that are correctly maintained.
- Complying with the Fair Work Act.
- Responding promptly on a 24 hour, 7 day basis to customers who call us in a crisis because they have a water leak, a blocked drain or have no hot water.
I urge you to ask questions about how you will be charged for plumbing services, insurance coverage and licensing before deciding which plumbing company to hire. Because the more you ask, the more you’ll see that our family-owned and operated company stands head and shoulders above the rest in true value offered.
By Gary Mays
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 | Jul 19, 2014 | City of Gold Coast, Cold Water, Consumer Issues, Gold Coast Plumbing, Gold Coast Water, Leaking Pipes, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Queensland Government, Water, Water Leaks, Water Meters
Increases continue for average Gold Coast water bill in 2014
The average Gold Coast water bill continues to increase. Did you know another water bill will arrive soon, in October despite the fact you have not yet received your six-monthly water account for the first half of 2014?
Due to legislative changes as from 1 July 2014, your water account will be issued quarterly, usually in July, October, January and April of each year.
The rationale behind this law change is that quarterly bills will assist in monitoring your water usage plus the bills will not be as large as they have been previously when bills only came out every six months.
Tugun Desalination Plant that was constructed entirely from borrowed money that we repay for now in our water bills even though it only operates in “hot standby” mode when there is a critical supply emergency
For most clients of Whywait Plumbing that means you will be getting another bill from Gold Coast Water or Logan Water in October, albeit only about half of the one you will receive for the first six months of 2014.
Many of us remember when water was virtually free on the Gold Coast and the only time you got charged for it was if you used excess water over and above the very generous allowance that was paid for as part of your council rates.
However, cheap water is the past thanks to poorly costed projects such as the construction of the South-East Queensland water grid and the Tugun desalination plant.
The reality of today is that water is expensive. The only guarantee anyone can give you on the cost of water is that it will continually increase every year.
For Gold Coast and Logan residential property owners who use the average water consumption of 250k/L annually your yearly bill on the Gold Coast will be $1887.20 compared to Logan of $1939.60 which is a slight difference of $52.40.
Ultimately we all have to be vigilant in ensuring that the integrity of our household water reticulation pipes is maintained at all times because a small water leak left to flow can add up to thousands of dollars in a very short time. This is why Whywait recommend every home should have water leak monitoring installed.
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 18, 2014 | City of Gold Coast, Consumer Issues, DIY Plumbing, Gold Coast Plumbing, Insurance, Leaking Pipes, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Maintenance, Water, Water Leaks
Badly installed or faulty plumbing installation will flood your home and is a risk you need to minimise. 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:
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
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.
By Gary Mays
