Troubleshooting Guide

WATER LEAKS

Leaks can pop up at the worst time whether it be your toilet, a burst flexi hose under the sink, or a burst pipe inside a wall – they are inconvenient and you might feel panic.

Leaking Toilet

Toilets can often spring a leak around the pan.  If you have a second toilet in the property, you can simply turn the water off at the tap near the toilet bowl and submit a maintenance request via the Maintenance Manager Tenant App.  If you don’t have a second toilet and the leak is really bad, call Grant Best on mobile and let him know you have an urgent repair.  Typically the leaks are quite minimal and putting an old towel down to soak up the water, or even putting an ice cream bucket under the leak will get you out of trouble until our plumber can attend

Burst Flexi Hose

These are the metal hoses that connect your tap to the water pipe.  As they age, they can rust, or split and the water doesn’t have anywhere to go but out all over the floor.  The first thing you’ll want to do is isolate your water.  Click the video link below and Paul will show you what to look for and how to turn the water off at the mains.  After that, it’s time to ring Grant Best on mobile.  We can’t have you going without water

NO POWER

We rely on power for everything nowadays and yes, power is definitely an essential service.  Before calling us, try these troubleshooting tips first.

1. Check with your neighbours to see if they have power. If they don’t, it’s highly probable that there’s an Energex problem and unfortunately, out of our hands.  Sometimes there doesn’t need to be a storm – a car hitting a power pole can leave you in the dark streets away if you’re on the same circuit
2. Check your meter box and safety switch. A faulty appliance can cause your safety switch to trip and take the power out to things like lights and power points.  Click the video link below and Kaden will show you how to re-set your safety switch and find the culprit appliance.
3. If you have tried steps 1 and 2 and there’s still a problem, call Grant Best on mobile

STOVE OR OVEN NOT WORKING

You’ve peeled the vegies, and it’s getting on dark – you turn on the stove but it’s not getting hot.  Check these things first:

1. Your stove isolator switch may be turned off. You may not have even known you had one but most properties do.  Sometimes well meaning guests, or even you by accident, may have switched this to the off position.  The switch is a safety measure for small children and completely isolates the stove meaning it won’t turn on until this button is in the ON position.  It looks just like a power point.
2. Your meter box.  Sometimes there can be a surge causing the switch to trip.  If it’s in the off position, move it back to ON and see if it works.  If it trips again, there’s something wrong and you’ll need to report this to Grant Best.
3. You haven’t run out of gas. Obviously if your stove is electric, this step won’t apply.  But if you do have a gas cooktop, make sure you check that you have plenty of gas and that the bottle is open with the lever pointing toward the correct bottle.  Click the link below to watch Nev run you through how to check your gas.

NO HOT WATER

Cold showers are horrible, and hot water systems always seem to fail when the weather is freezing.  Because hot water systems are so wide and varied, we’ll go through a few options below and you can pick the right one for you

Gas

Please, please, please check that you haven’t simply run out of gas.  You wouldn’t believe the number of tenants who forget to order a bottle or make the mistake of thinking they have plenty left.  Even if you have plenty, check that the bottle is open with the lever pointing toward the correct bottle.  Click the link below to watch Nev run you through how to check your gas.

Electric

Is it possible that you have simply used all of the hot water?  Depending on the tariff that you’re on, if you’ve had longer showers than normal, or you have additional guests staying at the property, you may have just run out of the hot water that has been generated by your system.  If you haven’t had any unusual activity, you can try releasing the hot water relief valve.

Solar

Those cloudy rainy days mean little sunshine so if you have a solar hot water system and it’s been overcast or drizzly, your system hasn’t had the chance to heat up the water for you.  Typically there will be a boost button somewhere in the house.  It looks a little like a light switch but it usually also has a red light indicator.  These are often found inside laundries, garages, even meter boxes.  While some are automatic, many are not.  When you find yours, turn this switch on and wait for around 20 minutes.  You should have nice hot water again.

If you’ve checked all of the above and you still have no hot water, don’t leave it for days on end and then call us on Friday afternoon.  The quicker we know there’s an issue, the quicker we can help.

No hot water is an emergency repair and therefore you should call Grant Best on mobile.