Vlog

• Ticking Water Meters when water isn’t in use is a good sign that you might have a water leak.
• Having a uniquely stunning property can also mean it ca be difficult to detect water leaks. 
• On the property today, our skilled Perth plumber detects leaks with minimal damage to the property to keep things aesthetically stunning. 
• Pipes erode over time and sometimes fixing just one broken pipe might not do the trick. 
• We pride ourselves in being genuine maintenance plumbing specialists specialising in water leak detection & repairs.
• Check out more of our VLOGs & don’t forget to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

In today’s video, top dog Richard is on a beautifully architectured property in Victoria Park, Perth, Western Australia. The task in hand is to find and fix a potentially massive leak at the residential property. The plumbing on this property is all over the place making it a good challenge for our Plumbdog to find and fix the enormous leak.

Signs of a Water Leak

Noticing that the water meter was still ticking even when the water was not in use, the client sought professional help and gave us a whistle!
After testing the meter, Richard notes that the dial is spinning peculiarly fast, indicating a potential water loss of up to 20 liters per minute for this property.

All The Gear and Every Idea

Our vans are stocked with all the gear and Richard uses advanced water leak detection equipment to start the inspection on the property’s long driveway. After checking over a particular area to spot the leak, he can hear a significant amount of noise from below the deck. Rather than simply removing the whole deck or main parts of the deck to check for the water leak, he inspects through the small panels on the side first. This minimises any unnecessary damage to the aesthetics of the property.

Finding & Fixing the Leak

After lifting the small panel, he can spot the downstream flow of running water. After inspecting a little closely, he figures out the leak source, which is a broken fitting. Two water lines are running parallel to one another, and one of them has been broken due to a massive tree root. The tree root has broken one of the screw fittings, and the enormous pressure of water has further destroyed it by wearing it out and eroding its other parts. Seeing the extent of damage, it’s clear that the leak has been present over a substantial amount of time.

To fix this issue wholly itself, Richard will now replace the pipe’s destroyed fitting with a new one. One of the pipe fittings types that we like is auspex which he will use today. The old hepworth pipe fitting has now been replaced with the auspex to ensure that this situation does not occur again in the near future and the pipes function smoothly.

Inspection

After the repair work is completed Richard does another check of the meter reading. Unfortunately, he finds out that the meter is still ticking a little, thankfully not anywhere close to the last time. However, it indicates leak of several liters happening somewhere, which means another burst pipe somewhere else on the property. These situations call for the process to be repeated until the next problem area is identified.

In case you detect any possibility of a potential leak on your property, then do not wait for any further. Give us a whistle at the earliest to prevent damage of this magnitude, as it will not only burn a hole in your pocket but cause a lot of accidental water loss. Also don’t forget using a licensed plumber also means that they can help you with a leak loss report which is a report for the Water Corporation which confirms that the leak repair has been carried out by a licensed plumber. This allows you to send the report to the water corp to seek a deduction for lost water.

• A straight swap is as it sounds where you literally replace a like for like hot water unit.
• It isn’t always as straight forward as pulling out the old and connecting the new hot water system. We explain why.
• Compliance and safety are of utmost importance for the household.
• Testing the hot water system properly after installation is equally as important.
• Watch more of our VLOGS here.

Different Types of Hot Water System Installations

There are different types of hot water systems including electric, gas and solar hot water with different options like storage or continuous flow and with a range of brands available and even housing designs, no two jobs are the same.

Because of the different number of scenarios, most plumbing websites advertise prices with installation for what we call ‘straight swaps’ or ‘like for like’ which is the base minimum to get an existing unit replaced without having to install new pipes or any major modifications in order to get the new hot water system installed.

Usually what will happen is:

• Unit is purchased with installation
• Plumber will arrive and check a few things to make sure the new unit can go in.
• If changes are required, then an estimate is provided and payment taken on site for the changes required to get the hot water system installed.

[Note: There may be some scenarios where a straight swap is not permitted. For some properties the location of the hot water system is not compliant with current regulations. You may have seen in our recent blog where a hot water unit was too small for the property. We changed from a gas continuous flow to a gas hot water storage unit to help reduce costs of installing completely new pipes]

Today’s Video: A Straight Swap of a Gas Continuous Flow Rinnai Infinity B20

For the job today, we have a straight swap of an old and new system of the same make and model which makes it relatively straight forward. Important to note however that just because it’s a straight swap, there is still the possibility that the new unit may not be installed.

To start off with before installing, our obedient and compliant Plumbdog makes some checks.

Initial Checks:

• The supply pipe is ok. Check.
• The pipe on this property is close to the gas meter. Check.
• The Hot Water System is not close to windows and doors. Check.
• The System is not too close to the flue and at least 300mm from the eaves. Check.

Everything stacks up and a straight swap is ok which means no extras to our customer and the price is as advertised on the website.

Testing After Installing the Hot Water System

Even though we’ve literally replaced everything as it was and connected the pipes to the same places on the new unit, our job doesn’t stop there. We need to test to make sure everything is functioning properly.

Test Gas Pressure

We test using a gas gauge to make sure the right gas pressure is flowing and performing properly. Too much or too little gas has an effect on performance which leads to unnecessary costs to you when running the hot water system.

[Plumbdog Tip: Check for the red tape under your system to see if it’s still there. If it is, then most likely the plumber hasn’t checked the gas pressure]

Test Temperature Inside the House

The fact that manufacturers are putting signs to check temperatures after installation means that there are plenty of installers out there who are not adequately testing. This is part of our standard procedure. Even though the hot water unit is supplying water at 50 degrees Celsius, there are numerous reasons why 50 degrees isn’t achieved inside the house and we need to adjust accordingly.

At Plumbdog, we hold our plumbers to high standards and have procedures for safety and compliance for the safety of our customers and our team. Following these procedures means that our customers enjoy a hot water system that works efficiently providing hot water while operating efficiently burning the gas and not your hard earned money.

If you’re in the Perth area and need a new hot water system, or even if you need to service or repair your hot water system then give us a whistle!

• This job started as a simple Blocked Toilet
• The blockage was in the main line and it was concrete!
• Check out our jetter at work with the CCTV drain camera
• Watch more of our VLOGS here.

In the video, you’ll notice that our obedient Plumbdog Darius said that he already sorted out the toilet to get it working but when you have a nose for this type of job, he double checked the line for the toilet and found more problems. To the average person or even a less experienced plumber, they would have called it a day which would only cause more problems in the future.

The Plumbing Problem

Concrete in the drains! Now we are used to seeing tree roots, hair and all sorts of usual things creating the need for drain cleaning and drain clearing but concrete is an interesting find. Presumably the concrete entered the drain when the bathroom was renovated.

The Video

In the video, Darius shows us the drain through our CCTV drain camera and gives us a walk through with commentary of the discovery process where he determines where the drain is blocked and why it’s blocked. Then we get to see our water jetter at work clearing through the concrete and dirt.

A couple of interesting points to note which we are always proud to say. Apart from the skills and how easy Plumbdog Darius makes the job look through the camera, our water jetters are custom made locally with power. We’re often called in to take on jobs which others say can’t be done. Imagine being told you had to dig up all the pipes to get this problem solved when we were able to get this done with minimal fuss.

On top of that, notice how far down the inspection opening was for the toilet. We’ve raised it to ground level for easy access in the future which also helps to stop sand getting into the drain. We also found an illegal square junction rather than a Y junction in the drain.

Working With Maintenance Plumbing Specialists

How many times have you called out a plumber only to find that they need to be called back out for the same problem a few weeks later? This would have probably been the same case if someone else was called out to the job saving time and money in the long run and the inconvenience of having to arrange another day off to get the plumbing done at home.

This is why we say we have all the gear and every idea! We are able to sniff out and fix the problems rather than needing to call out other specialists, we are the specialists in our field.

• Good Plumbdogs don’t just dig up dirt, we get our paws dirty and fix things back up again
• Being a plumber isn’t just fixing pipes, we have other tradie skills like concreting too
• Don’t forget to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

In this VLOG, one of our top dogs Darius is on the job where pipes have been damaged from tree roots.

Blocked Drains – Tree Roots

Tree roots are one of the common causes for blocked drains. In some instances after the problem area is detected, the problem can be easily fixed but in this instance it’s not as straight forward as blasting some difficult roots with our custom high powered water jetters.

Not all blocked drains are the same. At this location, not only was the pipe broken and needing replacing, Darius has had to break down the concrete driveway to get access to the broken pipe.

If you’ve seen his work before, you know Darius takes pride in his work and does a great job in minimising damage to the property.

More Than Just A Plumber

We pride ourselves in being maintenance plumbing experts and we’re really good at it. On top of that, check out the job that’s done on the driveway. From the start to finish, the breaking down of concrete is done neatly and properly causing minimal damage to keep the properly looking in good condition. After the job is done, another tradie isn’t called in to re-concrete the driveway. Darius has not only re-concreted, he’s done a great job and taken pride in making the driveway look great. This is the standards that we hold to our Plumbdogs.

Another Great VLOG from Darius

In the video in this link, he fixes a burst water pipe inside a brick wall cavity and you will be impressed with how little space he needs to get the job done.

Check out the video here

All The Gear & Every Idea

At Plumbdog, our Perth Plumbers have All The Gear & Every Idea. Our plumbing skills, training and experience coupled with the latest in equipment and technology is why we believe we are the maintenance plumbing specialists that even the professionals turn to.

If you’re in the greater Perth area and your plumbing is letting you down, give us a whistle!