It’s amazing how many of these Simplex hot water cylinders we come across in the Auckland area. This year we ripped out more than 100 Simplex hot water cylinders! In most cases the hot water system was converted to a main pressure system which required an installation of an additional drain and mains pressure valves. In this picture you can clearly see that only means of safety available is the open vent which deals with any expansion (sometimes caused by over heating). There is no tempering valve, no expansion valve and no drip try. Its amazing that these copper cylinders can last up to 35 years without bursting. Usually the only reason they do end up bursting or rusting away is because the thermostat fails which results in the element overheating the water to 99 degrees and this puts more stress onto the tank resulting high level expansion and contraction cracking the weld. Quality of water is also a big contributor to rust and life expectancy of a copper hot water cylinder.

Has your cylinder burst before the recommended expectancy? Maybe its a good idea to investigate the cause before installing your new one to ensure your new hot water cylinder lasts much longer.

Low Pressure, Replacing like for like, some considerations…

This Cylinder came in last week, it was in a holiday house and the low pressure cylinder had burst leaking over the course of a few weeks and flooding a lounge. After assessing the job so many issues were ignored when the original plumber install this one causing many issues of our plumber to remedy. Things initially noticed was no cylinder seismic restraints, isolating vale on the inlet wasn’t installed and no drain at all was installed and the cylinder was in the middle of the house on a concrete slab.

No drain at all is a big no no when I comes to servicing. We ended up having to live change swap the inlet to the cylinder with a temporary drain to drain down the cylinder, making the job even more messy. Installing and fixing all these issues is FAR easier at the beginning before the original is installed rather than taking short cuts and making it harder for future Servicing. In the end we resolved all these issues and the job was a success, but a lot more difficult than it should have been so really if we all just put considerations in to our work before we start our jobs, we will all as a plumbing community be better off!

We always try to push the boundaries here at hotwatercylinders.nz. This month with unbeatable low pressure hot water cylinder specials just click the link to view.

Our special offer of $999 includes everything required to get you back up and running. In New Zealand thousands of homes still maintain low pressure systems that are over 40 years old! If you have a high power bill it could well be that your thermostat is not working correctly allowing the element to heat much longer then actually required. As an example, if your thermostat is set to 60 degrees and the reading is not accurate your hot water cylinder will continue using power until boiling point, causing other issues within your hot water cylinder system.

Its very important to understand that 90% of time low pressure cylinders start leaking because of the lack of regular maintenance. if you don’t service your hot water cylinder the valves/thermostat will fail to their job and cause excessive temperatures that will in turn cause higher expansion and contraction levels, something most older models wont be comfortable with

Our maintenance cost is as low as $120 + GST, if its too late for maintenance our replacement cost including cylinder is $999 + GST.

Let us know if you have any questions..