A Handy Home Inspection Hint

Hi,

Replacing a hot water service (HWS) can be an expensive repair – the units aren’t that cheap and then you need a plumber to hook it up for you.

On average, a basic gas HWS that lives outside lasts between 10 and 15 years.

Anyway, here are two handy hints for you to consider when doing a house inspection:

1. Every hot water system needs to have a compliance plate installed on it. It is usually a metal plate about twice the size of a normal business card. One of the fields on the compliance plate is the date of manufacture… so if you want to know how old the unit is then all you have to do is find and inspect the plate!

2. Pay attention to the location of the HWS in relation to its positioning relative to the house. Most older-style gas HWS are located outside. The point to note is that if the unit is situated on the ‘weather side’ of the property (i.e. the side of the house that cops the brunt of the weather) then expect it to wear out sooner. One sure way to tell is to look for signs of rust.

Hope you have found this useful.

Cheers,

Steve McKnight

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Remember that success comes from doing things differently.
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