Hot Water Cylinder Leak Wellington

How can we stop hot water cylinder leak in short time?

In order to stop your hot water cylinder leak in Wellington from leaking, we need to first stop the water flow. So we need to find the cold water shut off valve. Usually this is located near the bottom of the tank.

Why has my water tank started leaking for no reason?

Unfortunately, hot water tanks do leak over time. Electric low-pressure tanks have a 25-50 year life. After this, pinholes appear at the bottom of the tank. The tanks are not economically repairable. We can fix the hot water cylinder leaking from the bottom.

Replacement can be done quickly unless the tank cannot be removed from its cupboard due to being larger than the doorway. The newer tanks are usually 50mm wide and 50mm taller due to increased insulation requirements. This can make it more difficult to get them through wall openings. The minimum diameter is 488mm unless specially made. Smaller diameters usually take 1-3 weeks or more to be manufactured.

The mains pressure steel tanks last 5-20 years and may require upgrading the valve train to modern codes and installation instructions.

The options are replacing like for like or upgrade to either a bigger tank. You can make it solar ready or change it to a different type of water heater or energy source such as a Gas Continuous Flow water heater.

The Swap

Comparatively a simple job which involves –

Selecting the right size tank as the new tanks are wider and taller than the original due to changes in insulation requirements.
Draining the tank after the energy source is turned off.
Disconnecting the piping and removing any shelving and door to get the new cylinder in.
Disconnecting electric connection or gas connection.
Replace the tank and do the reverse of the above after upgrading any valves that need doing.
The electric connection and switch may need an upgrade.

Most homes either have a 135 litre or 180-litre electric hot water cylinder with a 1.5kw or 2 kW element. We recommend replacing with a 180 litre and at least a 2kw element or 3 kW element if the electric connection, switch and cable can handle that. The tanks can be low pressure or mains (high) pressure. Changing from low pressure to mains pressure requires fitting a valve kit and a drain to outside.

Upgrades

A high-efficiency upgrade would be to a Heat Pump water heater. It is more expensive, and the running costs are much lower.

You can also choose a continuous flow gas water heater. The electric tank is removed. A gas pipe is fitted outside usually. This assumes you have gas on the property and it is capable of running this high demand gas appliance. Your gas supply may need an upgrade. Hot and cold water pipes are taken outside also and the electrical connection. There are internal models but they need an expensive flue and are flashed through the roof. With roof flashing there are costs of accessing the roof safely.

Our recommendation

Is a continuous flow gas water heater external or a heat pump water heater?

We have standard prices for continuous flow water heaters which include the first 20m of piping, hot, cold and gas. The electrical connection needs to be an electrical socket which must come from an RCD (residual circuit breaker source) for safety.

Call our team of expert plumbers to fix hot water cylinder leaking in your Wellington house. Our team is available to fix all kinds of hot water cylinder leaks, give us a call on 0800 484 353 to book a job today.