Getting your geyser through winter
The checks worth doing in November, what a gas smell near a geyser means, and how to tell a repair from a replacement before you spend the money.
A geyser fails in the coldest week of the year. It is not bad luck — it is the week it finally gets asked to work hard, and the week every plumber in the city is already busy.
Twenty minutes in November is worth a fortnight of cold showers in January.
Check these in November
The pressure and safety valve. Most geysers have one. It should not be dripping constantly, and it should not be sealed shut or blocked off by anybody. That valve is what stops a tank becoming a problem.
The flue, on a gas geyser. It takes exhaust gases out of the house. It should be properly connected, clear, and going outside — not stopping in a ceiling void. This is the check people skip and it is the one that matters most.
The area around it. If a geyser lives in a bathroom or a small enclosed space, air has to be able to get to it. Things stacked around the base is a bad habit.
Sediment. If the tank gurgles, knocks or takes noticeably longer than it used to, sediment has built up. Draining it is a small job and it restores both the heating time and the gas bill.
If you smell gas near the geyser
Stop reading this and follow what to do about a gas smell. Do not switch anything on or off — including switching the light off — and do not test it by lighting the stove.
That is a gas company job, not a plumber’s, and no honest home-maintenance company will tell you otherwise.
Repair or replace?
A rough guide, and worth asking any technician to explain:
Worth repairing: a thermostat that has failed, a gas valve, a burner that needs cleaning, a pilot that will not hold, an electric element, sediment in the tank. These are normal wear and normal parts.
Not worth repairing: the tank itself leaking. If the tank has gone, water is coming through the steel, and no sealing or welding will give you back a tank you can trust with hot water in the house. Anybody offering to patch it is selling you a few months and a wet floor.
Ask which it is and ask them to show you where the water is coming from. The difference between a leaking joint — cheap — and a leaking tank — replace — is visible to anyone once it is pointed out.
Before the technician comes
Know whether yours is gas or electric, roughly how old it is, and what it is doing wrong: not heating at all, heating slowly, leaking, or making a noise. Those four words save a diagnostic visit.
What geyser work costs is on the plumbing page.