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Friday 10 December 2010

Wulfe HWS

It was uncanny that a few days ago I wrote "things happen in threes".  I really didn't mean it and have no time for superstitions generally.  Well, it sort of didn't happen in threes, but as I type, Michael from Mizu Plumbing is currently installing a new Vulcan hot water service in the cupboard under the stairs.

It's actually been leaking for years, but it has come to a head and we've been investigating where this mystical water leak is coming from.  It has destroyed the walls around it, the bottom plate and the skirting board.  But it hasn't been real clear exactly where the water has been coming from.

Well, it's been the hot water service and the reason why we haven't been able to identify it is that it only leaks when the electricity to it is turned on and the element is heating. And because that's on Off Peak Tariff 2, that's only really between 11pm and 6am of a night.

Night before last after I had removed all the damaged gyprock and skirting board to try to get to see where the leak was I went out and the channel I had cleared was full of water.  Given that it had been almost dry an hour before I reckoned I was in a prime spot to see the leak and I was right.  Yep.  The hot water service, which was thirteen years old and not a very good brand according to our plumber who has had to replace quite a few of them.  There was a sure and steady drip of water coming out from the base of it, and falling exactly where the water had been accumulating.  It had been running around the channels where the bottom plate had gone and wicking up the studs and into the gyprock.

So the third thing has been fixed within the last couple of weeks: the water tank pump, the personal video recorder and now the hot water service.  That'll do us for a while thanks.  Which is just as well, as I now have a lot of carpentry and gyprocking to do.  Here's the extent of the water damage:

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