Monday, October 30, 2006

My Bloody Hot Water Heater!

My bloody hot water heater had been playing up for quite a while now but I've always put up with it and managed it the best I could. Yesterday was the last straw for me! I decided that today was D-day, the day I finally get it fixed once and for all!

The problem I was told was with the relief valve (indicated by the arrow). It's supposed to regulate the hot water by releasing a trickle of water when the water is too hot or the pressure inside the heater builds up.

But for a some reason it's gone berserk so when the water started to boil inside the heater, it released a torrent of water out through the relief pipe! What I've done all these time in putting up with it was to turn the temperature down to the 2nd notch and that helped prevented the water from wasting away.

The drawback of that is it'll run out of hot water very quickly especially when taking showers. So I decided to turn up the temperature a bit and that's when all hell broke loose! Water was gushing out spilling onto the walk path and into the backyard so I had to turned the temperature back down and decided to call for professional help.

Help came real soon, I was pleasantly surprised what with the way the trades people here are famed for. The plumber confirmed the faulty relief valve so he replaced it. Now I reckon I could replace that if I knew what the problem was and it would've been much cheaper!

How much did it cost me? $186.00 installed with 12 months warranty on the new relief valve and 3 months warranty on workmanship. I would've save half that if I did it myself, right Ah Pek?

20 comments:

seefei said...

procrastination costs $$! Ah Pek is a plumber lah?

PabloPabla said...

wah! Very the xpenses! But at least, the plumber was professional enuff and gave warranti.

5xmom.com said...

That's what I have been pestering ahpek lor...Keep writing his handyblog. Very helpful info from ahpek hor?Maybe he can call it screw.ahpek.com hor?

Anonymous said...

aiya comin weeks will be hot mar.. take cold shower. aussie plumbers are rip off... fark

Anonymous said...

it's liddat lar...simple thing but they cut-throat mya....

Wuching said...

see fei: ah pek owns a hardware store!

pablopabla: its law here, must be licensed & all works gerenti too!

5xmom: yes! screwahpek.com! lol

alex: cold shower? here not sibu wor!

yvy: thats why everyone has to DIY here, cannot afford!

Helen said...

Hey, I didn't know you're such a handyman around the house?? lol

My, all these and looks?? Your wife is such a lucky lady!!

But on a serious note, let the professionals do it, especially plumbing. You know, whenever there's a problem in the house, my mother and I immediately call the repairman. We are scared my old man heard us and start taking out his toolbox!! *roll eyes*

I tell you, this is a nightmare for my mother and me whenever my father wants to 'fix' something. Subsequently I know we'll still end up calling the prof, but with more work tidying after my old man and his mess! lol

Anonymous said...

WuChing, i had to replace my dinasour hot water thingy with one of those newer contraption that hangs on the wall...i am now $4000 poorer but safer. The pilot light on the old one was constantly going off and i got fed up of going out at all odd hours to light the bloody thing. One cold morning i went to light it and almost became BBQ meat when the damn thing exploded ! Small explosion but enuf to singe my hair and fingers! I agree tradies here dont come cheap....just the call out charge alone is $70 and $12 every subsequent 15 minutes! But hot water and heating...they are a MUST in a city with 4 seasons in a day!
Happy Halloween to all.

EK

Jo said...

IF... but the IF did not happen! Hehehe...

Next time, you can offer to do it for your neighbour and charge them a more reasonable fee. Hor?

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's a high water heater... which I never see in M'sia. M'sia use those called Joven, National or now got Pensonic haha...

Wuching said...

helen: me handy? nolah, just like every other males that think they are handy but know nothing! hahaha

EK: lucky ur still with us! dun play play hor, get a professional!

lil' joy: i'd probably do a crappy job & mt neighbour would hate me!

neo: yes, its different from what you have in malaysia.

SA: yes, here in oz we installed them outside, dunno why..malaysia has smaller units inside the house usually just enuff for showers but most ppl in malaysia DON'T have hot water in the houses & they take cold showers which is not really that cold coz of the weather & if u do need to take a warm bath, u boil some water! hey, thats life in the tropics!

Anonymous said...

awww... you could have flew me down there and i would have done it for you free of charge!! what are friends for.

Alex Allied said...

aiyaaaa, labours are expensib in ostalia laaaaaa. try to DIY as much as posibe lorrrrrr.

even if they go there and found out there's nothing wrong, they'll charge $80 for just being there. FUEL SURCHAGE mahhhhhhh. You think my time no nid money buy wan izzit?! kakakkakakak. but it's good it's all been rectified yeah?

Anonymous said...

Yalah...everything, if do-it-yourself, cheaper and easier...but not so satisfactory lah!!! If water trickling only...get bigger pipe lah!!

Wuching said...

ah pek: next time i'll keep that in mind!

alex allied: the thing was i didn't know it was the valve's fault, if i did..i would've done it myself!

STP: DIY is good! u can do it on ur own pace, know when to do it & how to do it! hahahahaha

Anonymous said...

Wah so $$$...cut throat....blehhh

Dabido said...

I once had a similar problem, and they ended up taking then entire hotwater heater away. So, part of being a good trademan is also knowing what the actual problem is. After all, what if the water heater had needed to be replaced? If you had of known it was only the value, you could have changed it, but what if it wasn't? You would have bought a new valve for nothing.

Wuching said...

che-cheh: yalor!

dabido: yes, ur right..better be safe than sorry.

Robin Wong said...

hey wuching,
can fix it urself meh? u so power one ah???
ahahahah...

Wuching said...

robin: i think i can fix anything!