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Rheem Alpha low pressure made in 1967

Rheem_AlphaHard to believe but we got called to this 48 year old Rheem Alpha hot water cylinder because a mains pressure upgrade was requested and not because it was leaking!

A typical low pressure installation with a vacuum relief valve and 15mm hot water feed to the house. No Seismic restraint or tray despite there being another property underneath. Safe-trays are a required by law in Australia but not in New Zealand if the property affected is not a separate title. We from Hot Water Cylinder NZ still believe this is good practice, ensuring that if and when a leak occurs the water can be managed and drained preventing damage to your own and others property. We are currently offering a FREE CYLINDER TRAY with every mains pressure upgrade! Call us for more info.

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Rheem Mains Pressure takes the OW! out of your shower!

Rheem Delta mains Pressure

The title of this blog is what you would have found attached to your Rheem hot water cylinder in the early 90’s! A marketing endeavor designed to encourage home owners to return a questionnaire which will enable them to take advantage of the amazing Rheem warranty.

Rheem_Delta

The back of this two color compact A4 flyer which folds into a convenient sized Free-post postcard states “Please return this questionnaire/warranty. It is your advantage for us to have it on file should the need arise to make a claim. As an additional incentive, your warranty will be entered into a monthly draw to WIN AN ELECTRIC JUG OR KETTLE, A TOASTER OR AN IRON.” I do love the “toaster” classic!

Some of these questions (eight in total, some of which are designed to “paint a demographic”) include:

  • Who selected your water heater? you or your plumber?
  • Where/why has this water heater been installed?
  • What did your new water heater replace?

1990_pipe_layout

Whats also interesting is the installation diagram Rheem has attached, stating that all other valves are optional and only required as specified by the local conditions and regulations. If you look at the schematic you will also notice it does not include a tempering valve. the shower priority is correct but some of the others questionable.

Good on you Rheem for taking such an interest in your clients! For over 25 years now Rheem have been the leaders in hot water heating and they continue to lead the industry by example.

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The danger of cheap hot water cylinder quotes.

wrongly_installed_hot_water_cylinderThis home owner would have been stoked to get this cylinder installed at $500 below going market price! There is a good reason why…

Often we lose out on installations because of price, home owners don’t know any better employing plumbers that happily install hot water cylinders in manner that is dangerous and inefficient to home owners.

We were called to this job which was just done recently by a local plumber, failing to follow basic building code requirements this installation resulted in overheating and damage of tap ware.

What were the requirements?

The installation was a replacing a faulty low pressure with a new low pressure hot water cylinder. the legal recommendations are very clear in this situation clearly stating that the plumber SHOULD bring this installation up to the current standard. which includes:

  1. Installing a tempering valve.
  2. Installing a cold water expansion valve.
  3. Installing earthquake restraints.

Non of which were done on this installation, putting this family at risk and increasing their power bill unnecessarily. Do you have a cheap quote? Before you commit, its a good idea to compare apples with apples!  Not sure? Give us a ring on 0800 4 CYLINDERS.