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Media Release |
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Old Electric Hot Water Services Risk Dangers in Ceilings
Thursday, 10 March 2011 14:38
Archicentre, the building advisory service of the Australian Institute of Architects, today said old electric Hot Water Services installed in ceilings of older homes throughout Australia, could pose a risk to home owners if they had not been drained when disconnected.
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David Hallett, Victorian State Manager of Archicentre said during the 1970s these ceiling-mounted electric Hot Water Services were typically located above closely-spaced toilet or bathroom walls, so they had plenty of support for the weight of the Hot Water Service filled with water.
Archicentre architects, carrying out pre-purchase home inspections or inspections for design concepts, come across these ceiling-mounted Hot Water Services, mainly in older homes.
"We would be advising anyone purchasing an older home to have the condition of the Hot Water Service assessed as they can be expensive to replace. The Archicentre Cost Guide on the Archicentre website provides an indication of the costs of Hot Water Services."
Mr Hallett said "the main safety issue is around the old electric Hot Water Services, with water in them, slowly rusting out over time. It is now over 40 years since this type of Hot Water Services was installed and now is the possibility that it may spring a leak or even suddenly burst one day".
"Many of these systems will be redundant these days, having been replaced with new ones during renovations or simply as they stopped working. However, if the water tank wasn't drained at the time of renovation, some water may still be sitting in the tank".
Mr Hallett said "although disconnected, many of them could still contain water and show rust around the base".
"Thus there might be a few of these old electric Hot Water Services 'letting go' soon, whether connected or not."
"The 'safe' tray located underneath the Hot Water Service is not adequate to survive a large flow of water. In some cases these safe trays are rusted old galvanised steel also."
Mr Hallett said "the best advice we can give to home owners is to make sure old ceiling-mounted Hot Water Services are drained when replaced, and removed completely. Home owners need to check whether the one they have needs to be removed and replaced, if one is in existence, and should engage the services of a qualified licenced plumber".
"If it is an electric Hot Water Service home owners should make sure that the electricity has been disconnected if it is redundant by a qualified licenced electrician."
Media Enquiries:
Ron Smith, Corporate Media Communications, Archicentre - (03) 9818 5700 Mobile: 0417 329 201