Gas continuous flow water heaters such as Rinnai, Dux, Rheem and Therman to name but a few, have their combustion monitored by various sensors and the computer board knows when something is wrong. Thy don't need as much service as other types of water heater but over the years, deposits do build up on the heat exchanger fins and this in turn reduces efficiency. They rarely break down but when they do, the first things that we check for are sufficient water flow and sufficient gas flow. The burner pressure is set at the factory but sometimes this can get out of calibration for various reasons and the high and low pressures need to be adjusted. The low pressure setting is especially important to prevent the heater from over heating with low water flow rates and cycling the burner on and off.
Storage water heaters such as Rheem Stellar, Aquamax and Vulcan have a permanently burning pilot and these require a little bit more maintenance. Pilots can block up and the thermocouple can fail. We have many years of experience servicing gas water heaters. Call today if you have any concerns about your heater.
The Bosch Hydro continuous flow water heater has proven popular for decades due to it's built in mini turbine generator that produces enough power for self ignition. There are still some older models around that take the double D batteries to do the ignition duties. They all operate on a very simple principle of a water diaphragm that pushes a spindle to allow gas to flow when a water tap is turned on. We can replace the yellow diaphragm is it is failing to do its job and light the gas when opening the hot water tap. The Bosch hot water unit shown below was installed legally under a Queenslander but was neglected and in very poor condition. Check your Bosch Hydro regularly and contact us if you want it serviced.
When the time comes to replace an old hot water unit that is beyond economical repair we can advise on the best way forward. We are specialist gasfitters with many years of experience in working with and installing hot water units but we are not full plumbers. The QBCC allows us to replace gas hot water units with our restricted plumbing licence. When a customer contacts us to do a new installation for a new dwelling such a donga or granny flat, we advise that we can only do the gas work due to our restricted licence.
Many plumbers seem to opt for the easiest option of just slapping a hot water on the wall where it suits them and not the customer. Consideration should be given to the length of run to the hot water taps. A continuous flow water heater will take a few seconds to light and a few seconds more to get up to temperature. Contact us should you wish to have a quote with some technical substance.