Repaired or replaced, often the same day. In a walk-up what you can install depends on what the building was designed around, so we establish that before quoting.
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Sydney's water is soft, so the usual killer is not scale. A storage tank is protected by a sacrificial anode that corrodes so the steel does not, and once it is spent the tank starts corroding instead. That or a failed element is most of what we attend.
What is different in a walk-up is that the hot water arrangement was designed once, for the whole building, at the time it was built. Where the unit sits, what fuel reaches it, and what space exists around it were all settled then.
So changing it in one apartment runs into decisions made for the block. Gas may not reach your unit. A flue needs an external wall, and the outside of the building is common property.
None of that makes a change impossible, it just makes it a question to answer before ordering rather than after. We would rather establish it in a phone call than on the day.
Say so when you ring. In this housing the access is a real part of the job and it belongs in the quote rather than on the invoice.
Internal cupboards, tight balcony corners and shared risers were all normal choices when these blocks went up, and they were sensible for the units and the appliances of the day.
They constrain what can go there now. A modern unit has different dimensions, different clearances and in some cases different servicing requirements.
So the first question on a replacement in a walk-up is not which system you would prefer. It is what will physically and compliantly fit where the old one was.
A continuous flow unit needs gas at the apartment and an external wall position with the required clearances from windows and vents, and in a walk-up that wall is common property.
So it is simultaneously a technical question and an approval question, and both have to be resolved before anything is ordered.
Raising it with the owners corporation early is considerably easier than raising it after an appliance has arrived.
A leaking storage tank in an apartment reaches the home below quickly, and the damage outruns the cost of the unit within hours rather than days.
Turn the water off at the unit, kill its power, and tell the building and the apartment below before you arrange anything else.
The people downstairs cannot see it happening, and by the time they can it has been running for a while.
It stores nothing, so there is no volume of water sitting in a cupboard above somebody else's ceiling waiting for a cylinder to fail.
In a walk-up that is a real consideration rather than a theoretical one, separate from any argument about running cost.
Where the gas supply and a flue position can both be resolved, it is frequently the better answer in this housing for that reason alone.
Sydney's supply is soft. The sacrificial anode is what protects a storage tank, corroding in place of the steel until it runs out.
Scale is not what ends a cylinder here, so descaling advice written for hard-water regions does not describe your unit.
Renewing an anode is inexpensive against a replacement and buys years, and in an apartment the consequence of a tank failing makes the argument stronger than usual.
The compliance plate carries the date. A young system with a failed component is a repair. An old one with the same fault is usually a replacement.
Elements and thermostats are worth replacing on a unit under about ten years old. Past a certain age the parts are no longer manufactured.
Photograph the plate and send it through before anybody drives anywhere. In a walk-up with stairs and no lift, a second trip is a genuine cost.
Up or down three flights with no lift, through a common stairwell, and out to a vehicle parked wherever it could stop.
That is a real part of the job on this housing rather than an afterthought, and it belongs in the quote.
Mention the floor and the access when you ring, because it changes who and what we send and when we can come.
Discoloured hot water with clear cold is the tank telling you the steel inside it is corroding. It is the clearest early warning a cylinder gives.
A rumble or crackle on heating is usually sediment on the base with water trapped underneath boiling its way out.
In an apartment either is a reason to plan rather than wait, because the consequence of waiting is not confined to your own floor.
A unit that empties mid-shower is generally undersized for how the household now behaves rather than faulty. Capacity is drawn down by what is taken in the same short window.
A flat let to a share household is the version people forget, because the building has not changed but the pattern of use has entirely.
Describe the actual arrangement when you ask for advice, because that is what the sizing runs on.
A shower draws hot and cold together, so the head sets the rate the unit is drawn down at. Anything installed before the WELS labelling scheme can flow well above nine litres a minute.
In a walk-up this is a particularly good bet, because it needs nobody's permission and costs very little.
If it solves the problem you have avoided a strata conversation entirely, which is worth more here than the money saved.
Type and size decide most changeovers. In a walk-up there are two prior questions: whether gas reaches your apartment at all, and whether the owners corporation permits a flue on what is common property. Both are worth settling before anything is ordered.
| System | How it heats | Typical life | Suits a Lane Cove property when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric storage | An element heats a tank, often overnight on a controlled load tariff | 8 to 12 years | There is no gas at the unit and the existing cupboard already fits a tank |
| Gas storage | A burner under a tank keeps a stored volume hot | 8 to 12 years | Gas reaches the property and there is room for a tank plus flue clearances |
| Continuous flow | Gas heats water on demand, nothing is stored | 15 to 20 years | Gas reaches the unit and the building permits a flue on an external wall |
| Heat pump | Moves heat from the air into the tank rather than making it | 10 to 15 years | There is outdoor space with airflow and the compressor is not beside a bedroom |
| Solar with boost | Roof collectors, with an element or burner covering the gap | 15 to 20 years | It is a house, or a block where the roof is being done as a whole |
A starting point rather than a rule. Storage size is about how much you can draw before it runs out, so what matters is how many people want hot water inside the same hour.
| People in the home | Electric storage | Gas storage | Continuous flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | 125 to 160 L | 90 to 135 L | 16 L/min |
| 3 to 4 | 250 to 315 L | 135 to 170 L | 20 L/min |
| 5 or more | 315 to 400 L | 170 L or twin | 26 L/min |
| Two bathrooms in use at once | Size up a step | Size up a step | 26 L/min, no wait |
Fixed price agreed before anything starts. These are indicative 2026 ranges, and awkward access is priced in the quote rather than added later.
Credited against the repair if you go ahead with it.
The most common fault on electric storage, and a repair rather than a replacement.
The cheapest worthwhile thing you can do for a tank you intend to keep.
Supplied and installed, with access and disposal priced in.
Where gas reaches the unit and the building permits the flue position.
Electric storage is what most of these blocks were built around, and continuous flow is where a lot of them go when gas and a flue position allow it. These are the makes behind both.
We service and replace these systems as an independent licensed plumber. We are not an agent for, or endorsed by, any of these manufacturers.
And whether it is a house or a unit. In this housing that shapes both the access and what can legitimately be installed.
We find the compliance plate and tell you the age before anyone starts talking about replacement.
If an anode, an element or a thermostat genuinely fixes it, that is the quote you get.
Old unit removed and disposed of, the new one installed to standard and warranted in writing.
We can usually be there the same day, and a fair proportion of the time it turns out to be a repair rather than a replacement.
Call 1300 381 569On electric storage, look at the switchboard for a tripped circuit, because a fair number of call-outs end there. On gas, check the pilot or ignition and that the supply is on. In a unit, also check whether anyone has been working on common services that day. If none of that explains it, stop and ring rather than opening anything.
Sometimes, and it is a good outcome when it works. It depends on whether gas reaches the unit, whether there is an external wall position that suits a flue, and what the owners corporation permits, because the outside of the building is common property. That last part catches people out. Establish it before ordering anything.
Because the position was chosen when the building went up, for the plumbing layout of 1968 rather than for anyone servicing it in 2026. Internal cupboards, tight balconies and shared risers were all normal. It is worth knowing before a quote, because access is a genuine part of the price in this housing.
Very often. Sydney's water is soft, so the scale that finishes tanks in hard-water regions is not the story here. Instead the sacrificial anode corrodes away protecting the steel, and once it is spent the tank starts corroding. That or a failed element accounts for most of what we see, and both are frequently repairs.
Isolate it and tell the home below immediately, then ring us. A leaking storage tank is not a repair, and in a block the cost of the water damage rapidly exceeds the cost of the unit. Do not wait to see whether it settles down, because it will not.
It depends on type, installation and whether the anode was ever looked at, so we will not put a figure on a unit we have not seen. What we will do is find the compliance plate, tell you the age, and give you a straight view on whether repairing it makes sense.
Diagnosis and report is $120 to $250, credited against the repair if you proceed. An element or thermostat is $250 to $550. An anode replaced is $300 to $600 and is the cheapest useful thing you can do for a tank worth keeping. A storage replacement is $1,400 to $2,800 installed, with any awkward access priced into the quote.
Tell us the system type, roughly how old, and whether it is a house or a unit. Those three answers get you a real number rather than a range.
Repair quoted before replacement, access priced upfront, and a written warranty either way.
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