Every installer recommends the type they fit. The honest version is that your house decides most of it — gas connection, outdoor space, roof aspect and how many showers run at once.
Home plumbing and hot water · Australia
Something has gone wrong with the water. Start by working out what.
We are not plumbers and we do not sell plumbing work — which is why we can tell you that a gurgling shower means the blockage is nowhere near the toilet you are plunging, and that a hot water system leaking at a valve is a part, not a new system. Here is what each symptom means, what you can safely check yourself, which part is involved, and the exact point where the job becomes licensed work.
Browse by topic
Hot waterEvery installer sells the type they fit. This is the neutral version: what each system needs from your house, what it…
No hot waterThe symptom tells you a lot. No hot water anywhere is a different fault to no hot water in one shower, and neither of…
MaintenanceA storage tank does not die of old age. It dies because a part that costs very little was never replaced, and nobody…
TapsA dripping tap is one of the very few plumbing jobs where the failed part is small, cheap and standard — and one of…
ToiletsA running cistern wastes more water than any other fault in a house, and it is usually two parts, both of which are…
DrainsWhere the water backs up, and what else backs up with it, tells you how far down the blockage is — before anyone puts…
LeaksYour water meter is a leak detector you already own, and it will tell you in twenty minutes whether you have a leak…
TanksA tank is sized by roof area and what you intend to use it for, not by the space in the yard — and the pump fails…
Water qualityFilters are sold as one thing and are actually five different things. What you need depends entirely on what is in…
Licensed workAustralia is stricter than most countries about who may touch plumbing, and the reason it matters to you is not the…
Why has my hot water stopped?
Pick your system type, the symptom, and what you have already checked. The troubleshooter gives you the likely causes in order, names the part involved, and tells you where the job stops being yours — because in Australia most of it legally is not. That last line is the one no installer volunteers.
Featured guides
A hot water system that leaks is not automatically a hot water system that needs replacing. Where the water is coming from tells you whether this is a valve, a fitting or the end of the tank.
The cause is usually one of six things, and which six depends on whether your system is electric, gas or a heat pump. Two of them you can check in five minutes without tools.
A storage tank rarely dies of old age. It dies because a part designed to be replaced was never replaced, and nobody told the owner it existed.
Where the water comes from tells you the part. Getting that right is the difference between a five-minute job and fitting three washers into a tap that will keep dripping.
Before anything else, find out whether the blockage is in the pan or further down the line. Plunging a main-line blockage does not clear it — it pushes sewage back through the lowest fixture in the house.
The most useful test in drainage is free: run water at several fixtures and watch what else reacts. It tells you how far down the blockage is before anyone puts a camera in.
If your main line blocks around the same time each year, you almost certainly have roots. Clearing them is maintenance, not a repair — and knowing the difference is what stops the annual bill.
Before anyone opens a wall or quotes for leak detection, your meter will tell you free whether you have a leak at all — and roughly whose it is.
Most tanks are sized by the gap beside the house. The honest order is roof area first, then what you intend to use it for, and only then what fits.
There is no answer to this question that applies to every tank. There is an answer for your tank, and it comes from a laboratory, not from a website.
Most home repair content online is written for the US or the UK, where this line sits somewhere else entirely. In Australia it is drawn tightly, and it is drawn by your state — not nationally.
Why this site exists
Search any Australian plumbing symptom and almost everything on the first page is written by a company that wants the callout. That is not a conspiracy — it is just who bothers to write. But it means the advice always lands in the same place, and it means nobody tells you which faults are a cheap part and which ones genuinely end the system.
We do not do plumbing work, we are not affiliated with any installer, brand or trade body, and we have nothing to gain from you calling anyone. Where a link to a retailer carries an affiliate commission it is marked, and it does not change what we recommend.
We also print no dollar figures. Prices, hourly rates and rebates vary by state and change every year, and a number left on a web page ages into a lie. What does not change is which part fails, what to ask for, and what a compliant installation includes.
And two things this site will never walk you through, deliberately: anything on the gas side of an appliance, which is licensed gasfitting, and opening the element or thermostat cover of an electric hot water unit. Both have killed people who thought they were doing a small job.