Showing posts with label home maintenance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home maintenance. Show all posts

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Geyser Problems


Most Common Geyser Problems
 

 No Hot Water?

The following inspection should be made:

Check:

  1. the circuit breaker at the distribution board is switched on and that the isolator at the electric water heater is switched on.
  2. with municipality switching times as the ripple relay may have caused the electric water heater to be switched off.
  3. the house may have a load shedder and the electric water heater may have been switched off by the shedder.
If the above are all in order, either the thermostat or element is faulty and should be attended to by a qualified electrician.

 



 Not Enough Hot Water?

  1. Check the size of the electric water heater and the number of outlets which are being fed by the electric water heater, bearing in mind that a 1700mm bath, when filled to the overflow, holds 195 litres of water.
  2. Check the thermostat setting and increase by 5 degrees Celsius until satisfactory temperature is reached.
  3. Where a shower is utilised, the average showering time of each user, bearing in mind that the average shower rose can deliver between 15 litres and 20 litres per minute.
Refer to the table to determine the amount of water used per bath.
DEPTH
mm
HOT 70
Degrees C

litre
COLD 15
Degrees
C
litre
TOTAL VOL:
41 Degrees C

litre
250
200
150
100
92
73
54
38
103
82
61
42
195
155
115
80


No Water Comming from Hot Water Taps?

Check that there is water supply to the electric water heater.
All modern water heaters operate on a push through system,

i.e. water can only be drawn off if cold water is introduced to it.

 
 

 

 Continuous Overflow of Water from Hot Water Installation?

Exactly where overflow is released from:

  1. the over temperature safety valve which will release water if the system is over-pressurized or the temperature of the water exceeds 94 degrees Celsius.
  2. expansion relief valve which will discharge cold water from time to time.
The SABS colour codings are as follows:

Yellow = open vent cistern tank type, i.e. no pressure
Blue = 100kPa closed system
Black = 200kPa closed system
Red = 400kPa closed system
Green = 600kPa closed system

If water drips from the expansion relief, try and determine the volume of water. Water expands when heated and the volume of expanded water is directly proportional to the size of the geyser and the thermostat setting. Expansion can vary approximately 10% of the volume of the geyser per day. If the volume expanding exceeds this, establish whether the house has balanced pressure. The term "balanced" refers to the cold water take off after the pressure reducing valve.

In an unbalanced system where common tap mixers or appliances are using hot and cold water simultaneously, cold water may tend to force the hot water back into the line which in turn will over pressurise the electric water heater and cause the expansion relief to flow. The combined expansion relief pressure reducing valve can be serviced with replacement parts in the event of excessive release of water. The separate expansion pressure reducing systems are not generally serviced with replacement parts.

Once again the expansion relief overflow and the safety valve outlet must be piped to the outside by means of metallic pipes, and insulated where freezing can occur.

 

 
 


 Geyser Appears to Leak from Casing?

Check:

  1. that all plumbing connections are secure.
  2. that the safety valve is piped to the exterior.
 General Information
  1. A high pressure electric water heater may be operated at any pressure below its operation pressure, i.e. may be fed off a headertank for rural applications.
  2. Please read all literature supplied with the electric water heater and store booklet in a safe place for future reference.
  3. Always keep your proof of purchase which serves as your Guarantee Certificate to assist us should you need to contact us.
In the event of the electric water heater having to be drained, proceed as follows:
  1. Switch electrical supply off.
  2. Switch water supply off.
  3. Release pressure which may still be contained in the electric water heater by opening a hot water tap.
  4. Connect a ¾" hosepipe to the draincock connection provided.
  5. Loosen hot water outlet pipe so that air can be introduced into the electric water heater.
  6. Open draincock and allow electric water heater to drain to the exterior.

Monday, 3 March 2014

Why You Need a Handyman

 

Many of us rely on handyman services to get almost anything repaired in our house. We call these guys because we want to get any home repair done fast and properly. Let us admit it, when it comes to fixing anything in the house, most homeowners are at a loss. That is why there are handymen ready to help us out.



What are the advantages when we get a handyman service?  You get to save a great deal of time when you let a professional do the job for you. Take for example a broken doorknob. Whether it needs fixing or replacing, it will take you forever just to finish it while our handyman can surely do it in an hour or less. You can then spend the time you saved from it by doing other important work.



Another advantage or benefit would be the quality of the work. Our expert repair services can do the job thoroughly while doing it yourself, the chances are it would break down after just a couple of months.


Also, by hiring us you can avoid getting into accidents in case you decide to do the repairs yourself. For example, if you have no handyman experience and you decide to repair your roof, you might slip and fall straight to the ground. Therefore keep yourself safe and let our expert handyman do the job for you.



As you know there is a lot that goes into maintaining a home. This is why so many people prefer to hire a handyman service company that schedules regular visits to your home to take care of these issues. Handyman Pretoria offer quarterly rates for these services. It is something worth investing in because as the fact is, regular maintenance costs less than one major disaster