Hey Dubstep. Unfortunately I live in WA! He was a pound rescue that I was fostering. Should have rented him out as water diviner dog!
I have a cat that can locate oil if anyone’s interested
Sounds like the thermal guy is little money well spent.
Has anyone checked the PRV – the Pressure Relief Valve?
They all eventually wear out, get weak and vent through the overflow pipe, which is sometimes stuck down a drain or somewhere obscure and you can't see it's continuously leaking hot water. Been caught with that one before. They get replaced for about $150 incl callout fee.
Good luck, hope it ends well for you.
Cheers
thecrest
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Thanks thecrest,
I will be sure to ask about this too. I would much prefer $150! At the moment the first guy is suggesting re routing the plumbing through the roof at around $10,000 plus the cost of fixing any damage. We have already decided we are suss on him so even if this is the path we take if there isn't an cheaper solution we will go with no. 2 or 3. So I can sleep at night once this is all done.
Sooo just had lengthy conversation with plumber number two.
Definitely is a hot water leak and he said that it is leaking at around 1L per 10s. Said that he may have been able to detect a hot spot if the water was still running but as there is a valve that the plumber installed yesterday to enable the tenants to shut off the water in between showers it isn't obvious now.
There are two options he has given:
1. Turn the hot tap on for two to three hours to hopefully find the hot spot which could take up to two hours. Then isolate and fix with worst. Ase scenario around a days work at approx $1000 and the need to use a cement drill which also sprays water inside or
2. Reroute at ball park $5000 – $8000 with proper quote to come. Labour around two days.
Better than yesterday. What would you do?
Cheers
I haven't read all the posts so not sure where your upto but sounds to me like your plumber is playing with his winky.
Don't get a plumber to detect the leak as they will screw you over, get a leak detector person in that charges a fixed price and they will find it in 5 minutes, will prob be around $150, I have had about 8 leaks in the last 2 yearrs on several properties and have used several plumbers and and 2 guys that just specialise in detecting the leak, all the plumbers were full of …. and the fixed price leak detectors found it super quick. It is quite funny to watch the plumbers just walk around the property making up excuses to try and clock up the bill.
Hi Keiko,
Yes that is what we are concerned about…the whole open ended scenario. The leak detection guy said it would be hard for him to hear under the slab and didn't want to waste our money. Do you have any properties that had slabs that were fixed?
Also how much did the repair itself cost?
Its funny the plumber and builder friends we have talked to have said we are quite unlucky with this happening but it sounds more common than first thought.
PEACHY wrote:Sooo just had lengthy conversation with plumber number two.
Definitely is a hot water leak and he said that it is leaking at around 1L per 10s. Said that he may have been able to detect a hot spot if the water was still running but as there is a valve that the plumber installed yesterday to enable the tenants to shut off the water in between showers it isn't obvious now.
There are two options he has given:
1. Turn the hot tap on for two to three hours to hopefully find the hot spot which could take up to two hours. Then isolate and fix with worst. Ase scenario around a days work at approx $1000 and the need to use a cement drill which also sprays water inside or
2. Reroute at ball park $5000 – $8000 with proper quote to come. Labour around two days.
Better than yesterday. What would you do?
Cheers
1 litre per 10 seconds is huge. If they can isolate the leak it would be cheaper and better to go with option 1, but I guess there is a chance they may not be able to pin point it.
Did you check to see if your insurance covers this?
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I’d say it would be cheaper to re direct the pipes through the roof. Saves you damaging the slab, tiles, etc.
Hi Peachy.
Dog is now in new home in Perth I am afraid. Sonar in Tom Price is a long way from Mackay. The local renovation mob had one.
Cheers,
Janice
Hi Peachy
If the leak is under the slab, it almost certainly existed prior to your purchase, as the pipes would be protected from any damage by the slab. So in fact, unless the house is very old and the pipes have corroded severely, the damage to the pipes may have occurred during construction. At 1 litre /sec, the leak should have been obvious to previous occupants, so as The Freckle suggested, I would be talking to an expert about my legal options. Keep in mind that brick veneer houses still have internal timber walls, and termites are attracted by moisture. At the rate your water is disappearing, and not visible, it must be assumed that it is very wet under your slab. Also, disturbing the slab may provide an access point for them. With luck, your leak may not be under the bathroom or kitchen. It's possible that it could be in a section of pipe running under a lounge room, bedroom, or hallway between tank, kitchen, or bathroom. In that case, repair costs could be much lower than estimated. Sack your first plumber immediately. His competency is questionable. The fact that he's an extortionist is indisputable.
I hope your luck improves,
Tony
Go with the ultrasound guy first. If he can't detect running water disconnect your hot feed from tank to taps and push compressed air through the line. It should girgle or his. Sound detection should pick that up fairly easily. You can use one of those 12v tyre pumps to supply compressed air. $140
You can't make any decisions until you nail where this leak is.
We are so unsure of what to do. Things are a little harder to manage being so far away and of course this is the one week our property manager is away on holidays!
Terry – we checked with our insurance and they won't cover it, apparently as there is no damage to the house. I asked him how we could possibly know if there is damage in areas we can't see. Feel pretty cheesed off about it as we thought we were fully covered for things like this.
We will hopefully get a quote today or Tuesday for the two options (lovely timing again with the public holiday) from plumber two and I think I arrange to get a third quote today. DEFINITELY not going with the first guy.
The idea of causing so much damaging only for this to possibly happen again is worrying us, as is the idea that the slab could be very wet…do they dry out once this issue is gone? Termites would be the icing on the cake!
If the whole thing works out at less than about $5 – $8k we may go with a longer term solution so that we can sleep easier at night not worrying that it will happen again and cause more costs and damage to the house. Also to know the plumbing is high and accessible.
The plumber yesterday said that it has probably been caused by some movement as a result of the ended wet season Mackay has experienced over the past few years.
If he says he may not be able to detect it under a slab then call someone else as anyone that has the right listening device and knows where to look will find it.
I have had a couple under the slab, one guy walked around for ages trying to find it with his machine, he was just wasting time, in the end I put my ear to the ground and I heard it hissing (that was flukey and maybe 1 in 1000) I told him to put his machine over this area and have a listen, he said yea I was wondering if that is where it was coming from, that just proved to me that he was a rip off.
$500 for the repair 3 hours work absolute rip off.
I have paid $198 before for a similar job.
If I was you I would pay a fixed price of approx $150 to have someone come out and have a listen, make sure they only detect leaks as a full time job and they don't fix them, this way he will want to find it as quick as possible so he can move onto his next job.
If he can't find it then get another person in to find it, someone will surely be able to find it.
If you get someone in on an hourly rate they will be there all day like some dumb shits tried with me, they will tell you any rubbish.
Update:
In the process of arranging a third quote I stumbled upon a plumber that has a brother with leak finding equipment in Mackay. I told him he really needs to improve the advertising!
As it stands we are waiting on firm quotes but our options look as follows:
1. Plumber one (works on his own)
– $20k to re-route and fix damage created
– $10k to re-route only
– $5k approx to locate and fix current plumbing
2. Plumber two (larger company)
– $5 – $8k to re-route only
– $1k approx to fix leak in current plumbing but no facilities to locate the leak
3. Plumber three
– $99 callout + $99 per hour to find leak (expectation from 0.5 to 5 hours) only
– $1 – 2k to fix leak including leak detection and hiring of cement cutting equipment
– $3k approx to re-route but he would have to refer us on (not sure how accurate this price is for that reason)
Going to start with the leak detection as the location (if we find it) could determine what is the best course of action. Going tell him we only want 2hrs spent searching at a maximum.
Thanks everyone for your help on here. It is fantastic to have this forum so we didn't feel so alone going through it! xxx
Peachy one other thought to keep in mind is that a quick trip to mackay is tax deductible in the year that expense occurs as a property inspection. When considering possible expenses in the thousands of dollars, being on site to make decisions, aside from peace of mind, could save you money. It's also prime fishing season there now, so treat yourself to a charter while there (the only expense on your trip that won't be deductible).
Hi Moxi,
Yes this is definitely something I have been thinking about. It would be much easier to manage from up there and remind myself why we thought this place was so wonderful just two months ago! My skills on the end of a fishing line leave a little to be desired however
Peachy one thing that is for sure here is that you should sack your PM. Good luck with the plumbing. Also is you take up the other posters suggestion, the fishing is also deductible if it constitutes tax advice.
You should get you dog on the job I bet it would be cheaper than $150
On a serious note I have gas plumbing running on the outside of the wall as some tradies accidently drilled through a concealed gas pipe that was in the solid concrete slab wall. So when you find the leak the outside the wall option may be the cheaper option to ripping up walls and tiles or digging through a concrete slab.
bardon wrote:the fishing is also deductible if it constitutes tax advice.Sounds a bit fishy to me…. sorry … couldn't help myself..
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