No hot water at all
On an electric system this is often the element or thermostat. On gas it is more often the ignition or the gas control valve.
No hot water, not enough hot water, or water that is suddenly too hot. Repairs and replacements for electric, gas and heat-pump systems.
A hot water system that has stopped is not always a system that needs replacing. Elements, thermostats, relief valves and tempering valves all fail on their own and all of them are repairs rather than replacements.
What matters is the age of the unit and what has actually failed. Replacing a $200 part on a twenty-year-old cylinder that is already weeping is money wasted, and you should be told that rather than sold the part.
Detail
On an electric system this is often the element or thermostat. On gas it is more often the ignition or the gas control valve.
A failed lower element, a system undersized for the household, or a tempering valve mixing too much cold in.
Usually the tempering valve. Australian rules limit the delivered temperature at bathroom outlets, and a failed valve is both a comfort and a scald problem.
Water from the relief valve line can be normal expansion or a failed valve. Water from the cylinder itself means the tank has gone.
Often the sacrificial anode has been consumed. Replacing it in time can add years; leaving it means the tank corrodes next.
Where repair is not worth it, like-for-like or a change of type, including the pipework and valve changes a different system needs.
A job Niles has done
Every photo on this site is work Brigs Plumbing has completed, not stock photography.
Questions
Broadly ten to fifteen years for a standard storage cylinder, depending on water quality and whether the anode was ever replaced. Some go well past that; some do not reach it.
It depends on what has failed and how old the unit is. A thermostat on an eight-year-old system is worth doing. The same part on a fifteen-year-old cylinder that is already weeping usually is not, and you will be told which situation you are in.
Sometimes. Running costs are lower and rebates exist, but they need space, they make some noise, and they suit some households better than others. It is worth a conversation rather than an assumption.
Some discharge from the relief valve during heating is normal. A constant drip, or a noticeable increase, is not — that is usually the valve or the system pressure and it is worth looking at before it becomes a bigger problem.
Nearby
Describe the problem on the phone. If it can be sorted without a visit, it will be.
Licensed plumbing, drainage, pipe relining and roof plumbing across Brisbane and the surrounding councils — Redland, Logan, Moreton Bay and Ipswich. Based in Thorneside.
QBCC licence 15161521
Member, Master Plumbers’ Association of Queensland
ABN 44 526 011 279