Melbourne doesn't get Canberra winters, but every July we get the same run of call-outs: burst garden taps after a frosty night, hot water systems that quit on the first cold morning, and gutters overflowing into eaves in the first big rain. Almost all of it is preventable.
Protect exposed pipes and taps
Pipes on southern walls, garden taps and evaporative cooler lines are the first to suffer in a frost. Foam lagging from the hardware store costs a few dollars a metre and takes minutes to fit. If a tap is already cracked from a previous winter it will fail in the next one: replace it before July, not after.
Give your hot water system a fighting chance
Cold mornings are when marginal hot water systems die, because they work hardest when the inlet water is coldest. If your system is past ten years old, rusty at the base, or already struggling to keep up, a planned changeover in autumn beats an emergency one in the middle of winter, when everyone else is booking the same job.
Clear gutters and downpipes before the rain
Autumn leaves plus the first winter front is how ceilings get stained. Clear gutters, check that downpipes actually discharge into stormwater rather than next to the slab, and look for sagging sections while you're up there, or ask us to.
Know your shut-off valve
If a pipe does burst, the difference between a mess and a disaster is how fast the water stops. Find your main shut-off valve at the meter today, make sure it turns, and show everyone in the house where it is.
The ten-minute walk-around
Once a year, walk the house: check under sinks for moisture, look at the hot water unit's base and relief valve, run water in rarely-used showers to keep the traps sealed, and glance at the water meter with everything off. Ten minutes, and most winter emergencies never happen.
Want us to do the once-over instead? Book a maintenance visit on 0423 345 575, and if a pipe does let go at 2am, we answer.
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