Useful Plumbing Tips

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What is the most common cause for flooded houses and what can I do to prevent it.

Flexible hoses throughout the house need to be checked regularly, these are a plastic hose fitting with a braided steel surround. Overtime these hoses can start to rust, a single braid can rust to a point where it will splinter the inside rubber pipe and burst the hose. These flexi connections can be found under your kitchen, basin and laundry sinks as well as your toilet water connection. (Hot water units should not have these connections !!). When inspecting these hoses make sure there is no rusting on the braid, if you can clean the rust off with a rag it is usually ok.

Where is my water meter and how do I turn it off ?

Water meters can sometimes be very hard to find which is especially bad when you have a major burst water pipe.

Water meters are generally in a rectangular plastic box at the front of your property near the footpath. These are sometimes hidden under bins, gardens and mowed grass.

New homes will usually have a second isolation valve on the left or right side towards the front of the building (These usually have blue or green handles).

Units and Town houses may have individual isolation taps inside a cupboard or outside under a small concrete block with a 'W' letter on the top.

There are many different types of tap heads for isolating the water, these can be plastic tops that need to be screwed all the way in to the right or a thin upright piece of metal that needs to be 1/4 turned to the right (you made need a shifter with a screw driver to turn this).

Toilet Problems ?

Toilets can have minor and major problems, here are some of the most common types of problems:

Slow leaking or dripping into the bowl - Your flush washer may have deteriorated or has material underneath it not allowing it to seal. The flush mechanism itself may have failed or the inlet valve may be constantly filling the cistern causing it to overflow into the bowl.
Toilet is filled to the brim or looks like it has less than normal in the bowl: This can be due to a blockage in the toilet trap which can usually be released with a plunger or the blockage may be further down the drain requiring a plumber.
Toilet is leaking on the floor everywhere: Your toilet may be leaking from under your toilet pan from the pan collar which is generally caused by a blockage. It may also leak from the mini stop tap, flush pipe or the flexible hose connection to your toilet. Check whether the leak is yellowy or clear, this will determine whether it is from the drain or from the tap, flush pipe or flexible hose.

Kitchen sink Grease, Oils and food scraps

Little by little grease, oil and food scraps thrown down the kitchen sink drain will clog your pipes and leave you with some serious plumbing problems. When grease accumulates inside the drain pipe, it blocks the passage of water and can get very smelly, messy, and unhygienic in quite a hurry. Grease is perhaps the nastiest of drain issues, and the hardest to deal with. The best way to minimize the risk of food scraps going down the kitchen sink is to use a basket waste strainer. Grease and oil should never go down the sink, use an old container or an empty can to drain you cooking oils in and let them solidify before throwing it away.

No water pressure ?

Water pressure can be caused by many different issues, here a few small things you can check for before contacting your plumber.

Use a shifter to remove the end of your tap spouts, these are called aerators and are used to keep your water flow efficient at 9L/min. Sometimes these fittings get clogged with matter from your water. Try cleaning it as much as possible and reinstalling.
Open your water meter or look on the side of your house to check whether you have a pressure limiting device, these devices can also fail causing low water pressure (you will need a plumber to fix this one).
If your house is a little older check underneath to see whether you have copper of gal pipe. Gal pipe even though it may look ok from the outside it may have rust build up inside, this can reduce the inside of your water piping to half of its potential.

No hot water ?

Gas continuous flow:

First check you have gas and water supply.
Make sure gas Hot water unit (HWU) power is turned on at the plug.
If the system is still not working correctly turn off the water and gas isolation points below the HWU and unplug the system. Leave for 5min, Plug the system back in and turn the water and gas back on. (This can sometimes reset the HWU)

Gas storage unit:

Pull the TPR valve on the system and check whether the tank has hot water, if its cold move to the next step. If its hot your tempering valve may need servicing or replacing. If no water comes out check the water supply to the HWU.
Check you have gas supply.
Remove the lower panel on the system, while keeping your distance look underneath the HWU and check to see if there is a pilot flame. If you find no flame read the steps on the panel you have removed.

Electric water heater:

Pull the TPR valve on the system and check whether the tank has hot water, if its cold move to the next step. If its hot your tempering valve may need servicing or replacing. If no water comes out check the water supply to the HWU.
If the water is cold check to make sure your HWU switch in the electrical box is on.
If the HWU has power you may need one of our plumbers to further investigate.

Useful Plumbing Tips

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