Did you know that your local lines company can actually control your electric hot water cylinder?
They can turn it off for up to 4 Hrs. This is usually unnoticeable to you but can be noticed if you use more hot water than usual around these times.
Do i need a Plumber or Electrician?
Commonly electrical elements and thermostats fail over time and just need replacement by an electrician.
Less commonly the tempering valve or the safety relief valve may fail.
A simple check by carefully touching the water outlet pipe from the hot water cylinder (it may be extremely hot 70 Deg C)
If the pipe is hot, the cylinder is heating, which means the electrical side is likely working. In this case, you will need a plumber to check the cylinder and tempering valve.
Loose wiring or overloaded circuits may cause this. Also failing led lights and failing dimmers. If your whole houses lights flicker especially when using high powered appliances such as a kettle or oven. This can also indicate loose connections and needs to be fixed immediately by a qualified electrician.
The circuit is likely overloaded or maybe shorted indicating an electrical fault in your wiring.
It usually means a loose connection or faulty switch. This should be fixed by a qualified electrician ASAP as loose connections cause sparking and heat which may catch fire (Breakers may not trip with loose connections).
This is usually caused by an electrical fault that has tripped your RCD (Residual Current Device). If your RCD has tripped, it means the safety switch is doing its job and preventing a dangerous shock or fire hazard. Call us to test the circuits and safely locate the fault.
High voltage or cheap bulbs are the main causes. Replacing cheap filament bulbs with LEDs should help reduce the frequency of bulb changes. With the added benefit of using less electricity and producing less heat.
It is highly recommended to upgrade your switchboard to modern circuit breakers. Old rewireable fuses take a significantly longer time to ‘trip’ during an overload compared to breakers—sometimes taking up to an hour if the current is double the wire’s rating. [1]
Additionally, these legacy boards typically lack RCD protection, and their presence is a strong indicator that your home may still use outdated, brittle VIR (Vulcanised Indian Rubber) cabling. Because VIR insulation crumbles into powder over time, simply disturbing the wires can strip them bare, creating an immediate fire and shock hazard behind your walls.
In most circumstances YES.
RCDs help protect people if an electrical fault happens. It trips on very low fault current and extremely quickly to help prevent the electricity stopping your heart.
RCDs have generally been mandatory on new domestic socket outlets since 2003.
Your breaker detects when there is too much current flowing through your homes wires then cuts off power to that circuit protecting your property.
This is important because if it was not there and you drew too much current through that cable it can overheat melt and catch fire.
