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You’ve had a long day working in the CBD, and you come home wishing for nothing more than a relaxing hot shower, to don your terry cloth robe and sink into a comfy chair in front of the TV. There’s just one problem: the hot water in your Melbourne home is out. What do you do now?
Below is our guide on what to do (and what not to do) when you discover your hot water is out:
1. Do Not Attempt to Fix it Yourself
Fixing water heaters and other gas plumbing is the wheelhouse of hot water professionals in Melbourne. It is not a place where people should be flexing their DIY muscles. The fact is that there are many more things that can go wrong when you try to fix the problem yourself than if you seek the help of professionals as you should (see below for more).
Most homes run on gas water heaters, though some do run on electric heaters, for which there are one or two small remedies you might try before calling out a plumber. We’ll cover those further down in our list.
2. Call Up an Emergency Plumber
The first main action that you should be taking if and when your hot water goes out is calling the emergency plumber. Only the emergency plumber is qualified to fix the water heater properly and safely. Their knowledge also ensures that they can isolate and repair the problem. As it happens, your home suddenly being without any hot water is considered a plumbing emergency by the authorities.
3. Take a Look at the Pilot Light
One helpful bit of information you can give to the plumber before they get there is whether or not the pilot light is on in your gas water heater. You may have noticed before if you look at your heater that when it’s working there’s a visible flame there. That’s the pilot light. When you call up the plumber to come and do repairs, you can let them know if you happened to see if the pilot light is on or off.
4. Check Your Fuse Box (Electric Water Heaters Only)
If your home uses an electrical heater, then you may have experienced a power surge in your home. These are not unusual occurrences, and you could well have some experience in dealing with tripped switches or blown fuses. If the water heater is completely dark, then check the fuse box and see if any switches have tripped.
This at least helps you to eliminate any simple problems before you have to call up a plumber. If all that’s wrong is that a switch has been tripped, then it would prove an expensive call-out for someone just to come along and flip that switch back on.
5. Restart the Heater (Electric Water Heaters Only)
Following on from the above point, if you find that there has been a tripped switch and the heater has gone off, restore the switch and then restart the heater. It may take some time to reheat the water, especially if it has been off for a long period of time, but you should be able to get visible positive signs that the electric heater is working again.
If when you try to restart the electric heater you get no response, or perhaps the heater appears to be active but the temperature gauge never rises or no hot water comes, then that’s when it’s time for you to call out a professional to come take a look.
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Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/shower-douche-bathroom-clean-water-1027904/
