Hot Water Tank

The cold months are upon us, this means old model storage hot water tanks will start to burst as we experience large temperature changes. The last week of June saw morning temperatures in Sydney as low as 4 degrees, no surprise our phone has been running off the hook to renew hot water heaters.

Rather than being under pressure to make a decision when your heater bursts educate yourself now. Consider your personal circumstances, for example:

• Are you planning on living in your house for the next 20 yrs?

• Do you have gas onsite?

• Are you aware if you are eligible for Government rebates?

Here’s a quick case study:

Let’s say Mrs Jones has her Rheem outdoor 170 litre gas storage tank burst. She has a 2 options – to install another storage tank or convert to an instantaneous heater. The cost of the tank and installation will be her cheaper option – she will get around 12 yrs of life before she has to renew it.

Her other option is to install an instantaneous heater, it will be more expensive for the initial installation, but it should last around 20-25 yrs, it will also be cheaper to run.

The answer of which option to take is commonsense. How long you intend to live in the property should determine which option to take. Two storage tank installations will be more expensive than a single instantaneous if you are going to be in the property for over 20 yrs.

Don’t just sit on it – Now is the time to upgrade with the NSW Government offering a $200 rebate on new dual flush toilets.

The NSW Government is offering a $200 rebate on installations of new dual flush toilets that have a 4 star or higher water efficiency rating. This is a water saving initiative that was presented to parliament and passed in January this year as part of the NSW Home Saver Rebates initiatives.

This government rebate is sure to push all the right buttons in your household! If you install a dual flush toilet, you’re definitely not flushing your money down the drain. The added advantages of installing a dual flush cistern are that they are less prone to blockages and require less maintenance with a more efficient flushing system.

On average, Sydney Water estimates a single flush toilet uses around 12 litres of water per flush. A 4-star water efficient dual flush toilet uses less than half this amount. Along with the handy $200 rebate, you could potentially save around 25000 litres of water per year and that’s no bull.

To be eligible for the rebate, dual flush toilets must be installed by a licensed  Sydney plumber such as Highlander Plumbing and we will complete and sign Sections 4 and 5 of the application form so you are able to claim the rebate. There is a limit of one 4 star dual flush toilet rebate per property.

Saving water and money just got a whole lot easier with the government rebate. Decrease your yearly water consumption with eco-friendly and wallet-friendly dual flush toilets. Highlander Plumbing, with their experience and buying power are able to offer you great deals on the best toilet suites available. Take advantage of the Government rebate and get a fully installed dual flush toilet for much less than you think!

Technorati Tags: dual flush, government, rebate, toilet

The Caroma Water Wafer uses a pneumatic flush switch. The benefit to this being you can install the buttons up to four meters away from the actual hidden cistern.

With this sort of technology comes specialized training to provide service and repair options for these cisterns. As usual, here at Highlander Plumbing we have pulled these things apart from all angles, we know the main problems, we know where to quickly get the parts and most importantly, once we repair them our lifetime labour warranty applies.

Lucky for us not too many Plumbers know how to fix these cisterns. We have lost count of how many of these cisterns we have now repaired after customers had already had plumbers attempt to fix them.

Lastly, keep in mind: these cisterns are expensive, the parts are not cheap either, we will never use non genuine parts to repair one.

Your Sydney Plumber is brought to you by Highlander Plumbing, Sydney plumbers with the experience & know-how to handle all your plumbing needs. Whether you need help with clearing a blocked drain, hot water systems & tanks, gasfitting, rainwater tanks or many other plumbing services…Highlander are Sydney plumbers you can trust!

When asked what the best solution is we are biased. Our bias is based on years of experience, we see which styles and brands don’t last long, and we see which styles and brands don’t suit a certain application. So our number one recommendation is always to go gas and to go instantaneous or constant flow. All of the major brands have a version of this style, the Rinnai infinity being the most well known.

The reasons we recommend this style are simple:

• They last longer – Rinnai are putting a 25 year lifespan prediction on their Infinity models, with only minor maintenance required in between. Electric storage tanks average 11 years.
• They are energy efficient. Some instantaneous models now have a 6 star energy rating. Electric mains pressure mains power heaters are among the most costly to operate.
• They use less space. If you would like to free up space on the side of your house or your backyard an instantaneous heater is like having a large brief case stuck on your wall. A large storage tank can be as big as a large man.

So do some research? Rinnai infinity, Rheem Continuous Flow, Bosch 26 Eco all great machines. Remember – and this is important! Your gas meter regulator will usually need to be upgraded for these heaters to work properly and to prevent unnecessary hot water repairs. They only use gas when the tap is turned on, but they need a lot of gas in a hurry. Too often we see cheap installations that messed up this crucial step.

If we were pushed on our second choice of style, we would recommend the gas rapid recovery storage units. The main choices here are the Rheem Stella’s and The Everhot range. These units can still perform with a 5 star energy rating and can deliver huge first hour performance by using the flue to help heat the cylinder.

Your Sydney Plumber is brought to you by Highlander Plumbing, Sydney plumbers with the experience & know-how to handle all your plumbing needs. Whether you need help with clearing a blocked drain, hot water systems & tanks, gasfitting, rainwater tanks or many other plumbing services…Highlander are Sydney plumbers you can trust!

Then we had an epiphany. We invested money into purchasing Drain Cameras. Our first cameras were black and white had terrible picture quality but they showed us very clearly how many roots were being left behind after an Eel was used. At the same time we invested in our first Water Jet machines. We repeated this process and saw entirely different results. The inside of the pipes were crystal clear, all of the roots were gone and the inside diameter of the pipe was back to what it should have been.

So what exactly is a Water Jetter you ask? A water jetter is a drain clearing machine that combines the use of a motor and pump to deliver water at very high volumes and pressures to cut whatever is in its way. There are many variations on Jetters. Some expel more water per liter than others, other expel a lower quantity of water at a higher pressure to cut. We prefer the high pressure machines. They are perfectly suited to domestic applications. Coupled with the correct cutting tips and used with well trained technique these machines can be undefeated at clearing drains. Note how I said used with correct technique, as our marketing states – “Not all plumbers were created equal”. The use of these machines is something that takes years of practice. Don’t get me wrong, a poor operator can still do a poor job at clearing a drain with a jetter – we see this all the time.

A word of warning: If a plumber is advertising to clear a sewer with a jetter for $99 or a price that seems too good to be true, then beware, because they are not even going to try to clear your drain. They’ll put a camera in your pipe and then try to convince you to renew it and charge thousands. Even if it didn’t need replacing. A proper attempt at clearing the drain would have fixed the problem and saved you thousands.

The moral of the story is to choose a plumber who is genuinely going to try their hardest to clear your drain. If it is found then to be broken, then that’s a different story.
Every Highlander Plumbing truck you see around Sydney has a Water Jetter built into it. Our entire fleet uses Honda motor jetters running at 4500psi. We find this to be the perfect pressure for our day to day drain clearing. All of our trucks are also fitted with 100 meter long self levelling colour drain cameras as well. We can clear drains and view them all in one visit.

Your Sydney Plumber is brought to you by Highlander Plumbing, Sydney plumbers with the experience & know-how to handle all your plumbing needs. Whether you need help with clearing a blocked drain, hot water systems & tanks, gasfitting, rainwater tanks or many other plumbing services…Highlander are Sydney plumbers you can trust!

Technorati Tags: Blocked Drain, blocked drain clearing, blocked drains

Bidet Toilet Seats

We have seen many of these spray hoses over the last month. None of them comply with Australian Standards; therefore, none of them carry the Watermark approval rating mark. For a licensed Plumber in Australia, this means we are not allowed to install them.

Why make a big deal you ask? Why not fit them you ask?

“We bought them on a trip overseas – everyone has them there!”

Well let’s start with the Watermark issue. If a product fails to meet our tough Australian Standards it’s for a good reason. Generally, if the product is of poor build quality, uses inferior materials in construction, maybe it’s not rated to take the pressure that our cold water supply is delivered. What ever the reason, the Australian Standard is there to protect the Australian public. If one of these hoses bursts under the pressure and floods your house, then an insurance company would be within its rights to reject a claim for damage.

The next issue is the serious health issue of cross connection. I will be brief on describing what cross connection is. Cross connection is the risk of contaminants entering the fresh water supply. The level of risk is graded. The fitting of one of these flexible bum washing sprays is high. Why is it high you ask? Well, imagine if you did your business (a number 2), pulled out your spray and gave the downstairs a good old rinse and accidentally dropped the nozzle into the bowl and into your fresh work – we would have a major cross connection on our hands.

There are 3 levels of cross connection prevention devices that can remove the risk of a cross connection. They are a group of valves that strain the water and allow the water to only flow in one direction. If a bum washer was installed, then you would need to protect your house from cross connection, the risk is high, so a large RPZ valve would be needed between the bum washer and everything else. These valves are large and very expensive, so who knows where it will go in your bathroom. The water supply may also need to be protected from the house now too, so another valve may have to be fitted to your water meter – just so you don’t make any of your neighbors sick.

Starting to sound ludicrous and not worth the hassle? Good, that’s the idea.

Bidets are approved, always have been, so why not install one if you really want that fresh feeling!

How come the bidet isn’t a cross connection risk you ask? Simple… a bidet has a fixed spout with an air gap between the spout and the drain below – no worries!

Anyway, the moral of the story is – while on holidays, think before you buy that bum sprayer – no one will install it.

Your Sydney Plumber is brought to you by Highlander Plumbing, Sydney plumbers with the experience & know-how to handle all your plumbing needs. Whether you need help with clearing a blocked drain, hot water systems & tanks, gasfitting, rainwater tanks or many other plumbing services…Highlander are Sydney plumbers you can trust!

Technorati Tags: bidet, bidet toilet seats, bidet toilets, bidets, installation, toilet bidet

It’s July 09 and we see a big problem slowly rolling towards us. In fact, this problem is rolling too slow and may stop along the way. No, we are not talking in code; we are worried about a basic issue of how many litres it takes to flush number ones and number twos.

Before we dive into this problem (sorry, that image in the film “Slum Dog Millionaire” flashed in my mind) we have to let you know that we are certified enviroplumbers, we care about water wastage, so what we are about to write is in no way “green bashing”.

Around the late nineties we were told that no longer would 11 litre flushing cisterns be sold. The 11 litre single flush cistern was the most common cistern around. Very soon after that we were told that the next step down, being the 9 litre cistern was being taken from production too.

Dual Flush Toilet Cisterns

Government insisted we start installing dual flush cisterns. The new dual flush cistern used 3 litres for a half flush and 6 litres for a full flush.

What a lot of people didn’t realise was that their new dual flush cisterns wouldn’t work when they were retro fitted to an old pan that was designed to take 9 or 11 litre flushes. This would cue the customer call:

When I use the toilet I have to flush it five times for everything to get flushed away!

This really defeated the purpose of saving water. The fact was: an entire new suite was required – the pan and the cistern.

So why did we have to bang on about a very brief history of flush capacities you ask?

Well the problem is, there are still lots of old water wasting 11 litre toilet suites out there, and there are still plenty of 9 litre water wasting toilet suites out there. And even worse, there are plenty of miss matched dual flush toilets and 11 litre pans out there.

This problem is now about to get worse… a lot worse.

You see, as drain clearing, drain fault diagnosing and drain repair specialists, we are noticing our drain clearing arm is busy… very busy. We thinks it’s no fluke that sewer blockages are on the way up as these new water saving toilets appear in more locations.

Caroma Smart Flush Toilet Suites

In about 2007 Caroma introduced its “Smart flush” range. This new range of toilet suites were only going to use, wait for it, 4.5 litres for a full flush and 3 for a half flush.

We could be cynics and declare the Smart flush toilets the greatest thing to ever happen to drain clearers, but that wouldn’t do the customer any good.

The Facts

What is needed are some facts right between the eyes. Caroma may bury some of these in the fine print section. We will just give you some basic tips. If you have an old house with original sewer, do not even consider installing a Smart flush toilet suite.  Stick with suites that use 6 litres for full flush. We think even 6 litres for a full flush is pushing it for a house with an original sewer.

If you live in a new house or an old with a new, perfectly graded, PVC sewer system, then go for it, knock your socks off and install Smart flush gear everywhere. You will be saving bucket loads of water.

We have just learned that Caroma and Fowler are phasing out a lot of their 6/3 dual flush cisterns. In fact, at the time of writing, we have found that Caroma are only manufacturing 2 styles of 6/3 cisterns and everything else will be 4.5/3. This cuts down the customers’ choice significantly.

We had a customer accidentally break a ceramic cistern last week. It was a 6/3 Caroma. She didn’t want a plastic cistern and didn’t like the look of the new Caroma cistern that we could have retro fitted. Her house already had a dodgy sewer history, so in the end she we supplied and installed a new Kohler toilet suite that was a 6/3.

Before you buy a new toilet…

The moral of the story is before you buy something speak to us. See what will work in your house first. We think the Smart flush options from Caroma are fantastic, but we are annoyed they are not running more styles in the 6/3 range. We want you to be thinking about possible blockages. If you really want to install water saving toilet suites and you have an old sewer system, then give us a call to quote you a new sewer system. Removing drain clearing costs and potential water savings are two things to consider.

Your Sydney Plumber is brought to you by Highlander Plumbing, Sydney plumbers with the experience & know-how to handle all your plumbing needs. Whether you need help with clearing a blocked drain, hot water tank installations, gasfitting, rain water tanks or many other plumbing services…Highlander are Sydney plumbers you can trust!

Technorati Tags: blocked drains, cistern, cisterns, drain cleaning, drain clearing, drain repairs, dual flush toilets, enviroplumber

Tempered water is compulsory on all new residential developments in NSW. You cannot simply turn the heater down or you will breed Legionella. The tank must stay hot, but the water coming out must be tempered down.

If your hot water  heater is being replaced with a different style or different capacity then it must be tempered by law. No exceptions. This is a very important safety message, not a “sell job”. You must now be suspicious of a plumber that does not insist on installing a tempering valve with a new heater; it shows that he is not aware of the current law.

Tempering valves have on average a 5yr lifespan. We recommend replacement after 5 yrs. This valve is a safety valve and cannot be serviced. If the valve fails to operate it is to be replaced.

Many of the instantaneous hot water systems on the market can now be purchase with an inbuilt preset temperature which does not require an extra tempering valve to be fitted.

Here is a quick extract from our code on hot water:

AS 1056.1
With reference to clause 3.2.2 the thermostat for a storage water heater shall be set at not less than 60°C. This clause then explains that a minimum setting of 60°C is specified on the advice of the Department of Health, NSW, that bacteria Legionella pneumophillia do not survive in temperatures above 55°C.

AS 3500.4
With reference to Clause 1.10.2, Part B, all new hot water installations, shall deliver not water not exceeding 50°C in residential buildings, at the outlet of all sanitary fixtures used primarily for personal hygiene purposes.

Here are the facts:

If you have small children then you must read this. The bulk of childrens’ burns victims that present to casualty each year are burns that were caused by hot water scalding. As you can see from the facts below, a burn can be inflicted by hot water to a child very quickly. Childeren do not know to pull away from hot water as quickly as an adult either, so the burn is made worse by an extended exposure.

We are sorry to shock you with these facts, but we feel you should know them.

• at 50°C, a deep scald takes 5 minutes in an adult or child;
• at 54°C, a deep scald takes 35 second in an adult and 10 seconds for a child;
• at 60°C, a deep scald takes 6 second for an adult and 1 second for a child;
• at 65°C, 2 seconds for an adult and 0.5 seconds for a child;
• at 70°C, in a typical factory setting – 1 second for an adult.

Your Sydney Plumber is brought to you by Highlander Plumbing, Sydney plumbers with the experience & know-how to handle all your plumbing needs. Whether you need help with clearing a blocked drain, hot water tank installations, gasfitting, rainwater tanks or many other plumbing services…Highlander are Sydney plumbers you can trust!

Technorati Tags: hot water systems, tempered hot water, tempering valve, tempering valves

We need to be very clear on what is required. We feel that sewer renewal is the best method for a permanent solution to sewer problems. Installing PVC sewer pipes cuts out the chance of roots growing inside the pipe as trees cannot penetrate PVC pipe, especially the thick grade pipe that we use. The grade of PVC we use is known as DWV (Drain Waste Vent); it is very strong and is designed to withstand great pressure from external forces.

We are opposed to relining sewer pipes.

There are many reasons we do not think sewer pipe relining is a good option…

• Reliners are using the same host pipe that has been deemed unfit for use.
• The actual pipe used, once installed is about a quarter the thickness of DWV, so it isn’t strong.
• At the moment companies are just pushing relining to justify their purchase of the machinery to do it.
• The cost for relining is the same as a full sewer renewal anyway, in some cases it’s more.
• Once a large root gets between the old host pipe and the new relined section the new section will be squashed and then it has to be dug up.
• There is still a large amount of excavation required to reline pipes, which they never tell you about.

I could go on and on about some of the unscrupulous tactics being used to sell sewer pipe relining to customers. I think it stinks. I have now heard of companies that are not even trying to clear sewer pipes in order to convince customers that relining is their only option.

We have replaced many sewers the old fashioned way which is to dig them up and lay new pipes. This is one job where the new technology cannot match the old fashioned method for a permanent solution. When we say permanent, we mean permanent.

Caroma Smart Flush Toilets

Caroma have been world leaders in the development of their “Smart flush” range of toilets. The Smart flush range used a measly 4.5 litres for a full flush. The idea was brilliant. The only flaw was for this range of toilets to work, they had to be mated with a perfectly installed PVC sewer line.  Smart flush toilets are already giving us lots of work in drain clearing when they have been installed to a hundred year old Federation house with an original sewer. We don’t blame Caroma, we blame the Plumbers that installed them with an inappropriate sewer line. So if you want to be Eco-friendly and use the great Smart flush range, then sewer pipe replacement should be on your agenda.

If you plan on making the house you live in your “forever” house, then renewing sewer pipes is the only way to go.

Your Sydney Plumber is brought to you by Highlander Plumbing, Sydney plumbers with the experience & know-how to handle all your plumbing needs. Whether you need help with clearing a blocked drain, hot water tank installations, gasfitting, rainwater tanks or many other plumbing services…Highlander are Sydney plumbers you can trust!

Technorati Tags: blocked sewer pipe, leaking sewer pipe, sewer pipe cleaning, sewer pipe relining, sewer pipe repair, sewer pipe replacement, sewer renewals