It's Sunday, the house is full and nobody has had a hot shower since last night.
About hot water systems
Most hot water faults come down to one part: a thermocouple, an element, a thermostat or a valve. We test the unit, write the price down, and fix the part if the tank is sound. If the cylinder itself is leaking, we size a new gas, electric, heat pump or continuous-flow system to your household and fit it, often the same day.
Whether you call it the hot water system, the water heater or the boiler, it's one of five things. A gas storage tank heats a full tank with a burner underneath. An electric storage cylinder does the same with one or two elements, often on a cheaper overnight tariff. A heat pump pulls warmth out of the air, like an air conditioner running backwards, and uses far less power to do it. A continuous-flow unit has no tank at all and fires only when a tap opens, so it never runs out but it does need the gas supply to keep up. Solar preheats the water on the roof and boosts it with gas or electricity. We service Rinnai, Rheem, Bosch, Dux, Aquamax and Vulcan, and we'll tell you plainly which one suits the way your house actually uses hot water.
More about hot water systems
Repair or replace is decided at the base of the tank. A dry cylinder with one dead part is a repair, whatever the age on the label. A cylinder weeping at a seam is finished, because the steel is going from the inside and no part can stop it. Between those two sits the judgement call: an older tank with a second fault in a year, or a relief valve failing again because the pressure was never limited. In those cases you get both prices in writing and a straight view on which one we'd pay for if it were our house. Nobody is going to talk you into a new system to fix a thermocouple.
A storage system heats and holds a tank of water. A continuous-flow unit heats water only when a tap opens. Both need the right pipework, valves and, for gas, a correctly sized gas supply.
How Champion Plumbing & Drains handles hot water systems
No hot water, or only a short supply, usually means the heating side has stopped keeping up. On a storage tank that's a lower element gone on an electric unit, or a burner that keeps dropping out on gas. What you're getting is the last of yesterday's heat.
Signs of a leaking tank: a damp concrete pad, a rust stain on the bricks or a steady trickle from under the jacket. If it's coming from a fitting or a valve, that's a repair. If it's coming from the cylinder itself, no part will stop it.
