All Brands · All Systems · Town, Acreage & Tank Water
Hot Water Repair Nambour
Winter mornings in the hinterland are several degrees colder than on the beach and nothing is worse than waking to find the hot water has died during the night. We fix all electric, gas, continuous flow, heat pump, solar and tanked systems throughout Nambour and we let you know right away when a repair is no longer cost effective!
Repairs, replacements and straight advice
Hot Water Repairs in Nambour, Usually Same Day
The good news is first, it's more common than people think, most “dead” hot water systems live. In years of Nambour call-outs, most of the cold-shower mornings can be attributed to one common malfunction, a burned-out element, a thermostat that has wandered off from its calibration, the thermocouple that no longer holds the pilot or a valve that has simply given up the ghost. All of these are stocked parts and a first-visit repair, and are very cheap compared to a new system.
The good news, which is specific to living up here, is that it genuinely is good news. Nambour's hot water systems have an easier life than that of the Coast. Located inland, at the base of the Blackall Range, away from the salt-laden air that continues to rob the beach-side suburbs of casings, valves, fittings and connections, systems here remain largely free from the ravages of salt. A storage tank that might be finished at eight or nine years in Mooloolaba or Cotton Tree has a realistic shot at the top of the 8 to 12 year range in Nambour. When people say the hinterland is kinder on a house, hot water is one of the places you can actually measure it.
The complications here are different ones. Nambour is an older town with older installations, restrictions on access to the tanks, systems sited under the house and, on the edge of town, a whole breed of tank fed systems that perform completely differently to a mains fed system. Diagnosing Nambour hot water means knowing all of that, and it's why a plumber whose experience is all new-estate slab homes will be slower under a Coes Creek Queenslander.
Apex Essential Services repairs and replaces all major brands of all common types of systems throughout Nambour and the hinterland, from the town centre, hospital precinct, out through Coes Creek, Burnside, Image Flat and through to the range.
Three Checks Worth Thirty Seconds Before You Call
- Electric storage, check the switchboard. Hot water is almost always on a separate circuit and a blown fuse or a tripped breaker is the most cost-effective of all “repair” options. In older switchboards in this town, a blown fuse wire is also a clue to watch for in addition to a tripped switch. Worth knowing too: many homes here run an off peak heating tariff, so a tank which has been drained flat from a run of showers may be awaiting its overnight window.
- Gas, see if the lights come on at the cooktop. When no gas appliance is working in the home, it isn't necessarily the heater, but simply a house that is out of gas, and on bottle-gas properties, emptying the bottle is something you see often. A blown-out pilot light after a windy night is a very common and easy cause on older gas storage systems.
- For tank water, listen for the pump. This is the most call-out saving check on the acreage. No pump, no water, hot or cold. If no pressure is present anywhere in the house, the pump or tank supply is at fault, not the hot water system.
📞 All clear and still cold, or anything leaking? This is the phone number to call.
What Fails, System by System
Electric storage
The most widespread system on the established streets of the town. When the heat stops completely, the two most likely culprits are the heating element, which fails over time and after use cycles, and the thermostat that regulates the heating element. These are both regular, ready-to-order repairs.
Water that is just warm or hot water that runs out a lot quicker than it should typically points elsewhere. The most common is a failure in a twin element tank, reducing your tank capacity by 50%. The other is sediment, which is the name for the mineral content that settles from the water over the years and produces a layer on the bottom of the tank, taking up space and blocking the lower element from heating the water it is designed to heat. Sediment build-up is more likely to occur and should be inspected sooner on tank water properties.
Gas storage
Cold water from a gas storage unit is often a sign of one of three things. The pilot light can be extinguished by wind and/or a loss of supply and is easily relit. The thermocouple is the safety device that will automatically turn off the gas when the pilot blows out, and when it fails, the pilot will not remain alight, regardless of how many times you try to relight it, and that's the classic symptom that people report on the phone. Or a burner that is so fouled that it has a weak lazy flame and poor recovery.
While the water is still hot, one thing that should be done is to schedule a service if the flame on the burner is yellow and sooty rather than crisp blue. That's incomplete combustion, not just cosmetic, it's a real safety issue. It is certainly worth attention in older installations where the flues and fittings are worn out.
Continuous flow (instantaneous)
They heat on demand and do not run out and are becoming a very popular option in Nambour bathroom renovations, and a good option when space is limited or when a household has outgrown its tank. They are efficient and durable, but more particular about flow and ignition than a storage tank, which makes a difference here.
Typical issues include error codes on the controller, hot and cold during the shower (usually a flow sensor or failing ignition), and eventually a reduced flow due to the accumulation of scale in the heat exchanger. A special Nambour item: continuous flow units require sufficient water flow to fire and maintain the temperature, so on a tank-fed property with a modest pump, careful specification is required. We've been called to “faulty” units that were always destined to fail on the supply they were provided with. Getting the right one at installation matters more than the brand on the box.
Heat pumps
An alternative that is becoming more popular here, and one that's a good match, is a heat pump, which pulls heat from the air rather than makes it by means of an element, and running costs are a fraction of conventional electric. The advantage of having an external unit here is that it's not having to battle the salt air that would shorten the life of the components in a coastal installation.
The downside of the hinterland is that heat pump efficiency decreases with colder ambient air temperature, and Nambour's winter mornings are not as warm as the beachfront, especially the low-lying areas near the creek where cold air accumulates at night. Modern units handle Queensland conditions perfectly well, it's just a matter of where they're sited: provide open air and morning sun for the unit, rather than a cold, shaded, enclosed south-facing corner. Faults focus on fans, sensors and refrigeration parts, and also the tank below must be treated like any cylinder for the anode and valve.
Solar
Solar hot water has been around for decades in Nambour, a staple of the north-facing roofs and abundant sunshine. It's the most stealthy failure of any system since the electric or gas booster does the work for it; a dead circulation pump, a failed roof sensor or a leak in the collector connection doesn't result in a cold shower, it results in an increased energy bill. Too bad if you don't notice, but if your “free” hot water has been a cost to you over the past few quarters, you've got a problem upstream of the booster. In older installations, in particular, it is better to make an assessment of roof-mounted components than to take them for granted.
One drip is by design. One leak is the end.
💧 All storage tanks are equipped with a temperature and pressure relief (TPR) valve, which will allow the release of small quantities of water as the tank heats and pressure rises. This is a normal and healthy dribble during heating cycles. A constant running stream is not normal, that's the valve, or your incoming pressure, asking for attention. But if the weeping is moisture coming out of the tank body itself, then this is a different category: the cylinder has corroded through from the inside, it will not be improved, and it can let go completely without much warning. Turn off water and then turn off the power or gas to the unit, and call. A full tank is a minimum of 250 litres, and under a Queenslander all of it goes straight through to where you store things below.
Tank Water, Pumps and Hot Water on Acreage
Hot water in the upper-end of Coes Creek, out towards Perwillowen, in Image Flat, and on the properties rising towards the range, lives in a different world, and it's worth studying, as there are a lot of “hot water failures” out here that aren't a hot water failure.
The pump is part of your hot water system
An electric pressure pump supplies all the water pressure for the house, even to the hot water unit, on a tank-supplied property. If that pump fails, all you get is no water, and people notice it first in the shower, and so call about hot water. Check the cold taps first to see if they have pressure as well. If nothing anywhere works, then it's the pump or the tank, and that's the fault we need to fix.