Hi, I recently had a Plumber out as my water pressure in the shower has decreased significantly. He has advised me my whole system will need replacing and recommends me switching over to gas at a cost of approx $4K. My friend forwarded me some news articles that the government has mentioned recently that they want us to do away with gas reliance. Should I just stick with a news mains pressure cylinder run off electricity? Any thoughts on this matter? Thanks in advance. I will check any replies later in the day. Oh, he mentioned putting some pressure boosters on the tank in the roof to help with pressure but as there are two valves I would need two boosters at a cost of $2K so he recommended it would be more advantageous to just change everything out for new. My current cylinder is already 31 years old.

Edited by turbogtx at 10:30 am, Thu 4 Feb

turbogtx - 2021-02-04 10:29:00

Stay with power. It is cheaper if everything in the house is power. As for pressure, well mains should be ok, up till now you have had lower pressure so mains is better than that.

msigg - 2021-02-04 10:43:00

Yip put a equal/high pressure electric cylinder in. You will never regret it. Gas is being fazed out so no point in doing that. even if they back track on eliminating gas i bet they find a way to make it more expensive.
When going to high pressure put the biggest cylinder in you can fit as the water rushing in so fast does cause it to mix more than the old low pressure did so the water cools a bit faster due to the mixing.

3tomany - 2021-02-04 10:45:00

Another reason to go electric is if you put solar in one day as we probably all will, the cylinder is the best place to store your free day time energy.

3tomany - 2021-02-04 10:48:00

Mains pressure, solar capable cost me $1800 installed for 180litre tank.

gabbysnana - 2021-02-04 12:43:00

Thank you for everyone's reply. I wont be getting gas.

turbogtx - 2021-02-04 14:51:00

id say gas gas gas
youre not paying to keep water hot
you get the extra space from where you had the cylinder
for us gas has been way cheaper the electric
so consider your potential usage

pheonix4 - 2021-02-04 18:47:00

We are about to replace our mains pressure hot water cylinder. When we purchased it to replace our old low pressure system, we were told to expect maybe 12 to 15 years of service. We installed it with all the appropriate valves and also put a pressure reducing valve on to the cold water inlet to the house. Mains pressure water is insane and we have gotten 17 years out of our cylinder ( it has ruptured). Fortunately we can do the transplant with all the existing parts as the configuration is identical, Just something to think about Longevity.

rak1 - 2021-02-04 19:31:00

pheonix4 wrote:

id say gas gas gas
youre not paying to keep water hot
you get the extra space from where you had the cylinder
for us gas has been way cheaper the electric
so consider your potential usage

2nd the gas idea.

rodeorunch - 2021-02-04 20:53:00

turbogtx wrote:

Hi, I recently had a Plumber out as my water pressure in the shower has decreased significantly. He has advised me my whole system will need replacing ...

If you were satisfied with the pressure you used to have find another plumber who can find the reason it changed. "Change everything" is a clueless answer.

pauldw - 2021-02-05 07:49:00

rak1 wrote:

We are about to replace our mains pressure hot water cylinder. When we purchased it to replace our old low pressure system, we were told to expect maybe 12 to 15 years of service. We installed it with all the appropriate valves and also put a pressure reducing valve on to the cold water inlet to the house. Mains pressure water is insane and we have gotten 17 years out of our cylinder ( it has ruptured). Fortunately we can do the transplant with all the existing parts as the configuration is identical, Just something to think about Longevity.

Gosh our cylinder is 24 years old and still okay .

martin11 - 2021-02-05 08:13:00

turbogtx wrote:

Should I just stick with a news mains pressure cylinder run off electricity?Oh, he mentioned putting some pressure boosters on the tank in the roof to help with pressure.

Just go with mains electric. You don't need boosters if you get mains.

lythande1 - 2021-02-05 08:36:00

pheonix4 wrote:

id say gas gas gas
youre not paying to keep water hot
you get the extra space from where you had the cylinder
for us gas has been way cheaper the electric
so consider your potential usage

Agreed. I put the hot water cupboard space to good use in my reno's, and the power bills have been SO cheap without paying for hot water. I don't go through gas very quickly, so have found it to be great.

melagray - 2021-02-06 20:00:00

Go with gas... there's thousands of households using gas... our commie princess and her greenie morons are never going to shut off the gas supply..

m16d - 2021-02-06 21:13:00

martin11 wrote:

Gosh our cylinder is 24 years old and still okay .

My last house (built 1960) still had the original low pressure cylinder. We sold the place ten years ago with the cylinder unchanged. That's not a bad innings.

apollo11 - 2021-02-06 21:26:00

You could get a gas Infiniti system put in and run it off bottles. Then you wouldn't have to pay a second lines charge. Friends have this and they swap the cylinder out quarterly.

apollo11 - 2021-02-06 21:29:00

It's not the gas charges that are the problem.
It's the supply charges that keep changing upwards.
They will try to charge you even if you don't have an active gas account with anybody, unless you get the meter physically plugged.
Been there done that in a few houses.

Bottled gas is cheaper but every 5 years you have to get the cylinders retested AND you generally have to get them filled your self unless you are running a bottle rental account.
Oh, theres that rental/ supply charge bit again.
So that means you have an electrical supply charge AND a gas or bottle supply/ rental charge.

Electricity .....
One supply charge ........ done

mrfxit - 2021-02-07 10:40:00

mrfxit wrote:

It's not the gas charges that are the problem.
It's the supply charges that keep changing upwards.
They will try to charge you even if you don't have an active gas account with anybody, unless you get the meter physically plugged.
Been there done that in a few houses.

Bottled gas is cheaper but every 5 years you have to get the cylinders retested AND you generally have to get them filled your self unless you are running a bottle rental account.
Oh, theres that rental/ supply charge bit again.
So that means you have an electrical supply charge AND a gas or bottle supply/ rental charge.

Electricity .....
One supply charge ........ done

It's not that bad! The annual fee from Rock Gas is bugger all, less than I'd pay for hot water in a month with a hot water cylinder. And when I need a bottle exchanged I just let them know and it's done by them within days. No hassle and very economical. And my power bills are miniscule.

melagray - 2021-02-07 10:43:00

The only economical way to go gas, is whole house gas.
Gas .... water/ heating/ cooking.
Retro fitting is not cheap

mrfxit - 2021-02-07 10:43:00

turbogtx wrote:

Hi, I recently had a Plumber out as my water pressure in the shower has decreased significantly. He has advised me my whole system will need replacing and recommends me switching over to gas at a cost of approx $4K. My friend forwarded me some news articles that the government has mentioned recently that they want us to do away with gas reliance. Should I just stick with a news mains pressure cylinder run off electricity? Any thoughts on this matter? Thanks in advance. I will check any replies later in the day. Oh, he mentioned putting some pressure boosters on the tank in the roof to help with pressure but as there are two valves I would need two boosters at a cost of $2K so he recommended it would be more advantageous to just change everything out for new. My current cylinder is already 31 years old.

Totally agree with the other comments about getting a different plumber to find out WHY your current system has dropped pressure.

mrfxit - 2021-02-07 10:45:00

Op mentions "pressure boosters on the tank in the roof" Sounds like a very old system with a header tank. But if it is why would it need 2 boosters?
I agree needs a much better plumber to have a look. Old header tank systems can never change the pressure.
I suppose the actual HWC might be in the roof space and if that's dropped pressure probably needs the nefa valve serviced.

supernova2 - 2021-02-07 11:37:00

When we changed our hot water cylinder to high pressure we had to upgrade the piping as well which was an added expense. EQC paid for the cylinder replacement due to the ChCh earthquakes damaging our low pressure system.

catdog68 - 2021-02-08 11:21:00

We have just changed to gas 10 days ago as 1 of our cylinders had died. We had 2 hot water cylinders, 1 on low pressure and the other on high pressure as there are 2 different water supplies into the house. Now we have 1 water supply into the house and the water pressure is the best it’s ever been (live in a rural area). Loving the gas so far and looking forward to cheaper power bill. Shop around different gas suppliers and they all charge differently. I’m very happy with the yearly rental/service fee and the cost of replacing the bottles when needed.

sstraight - 2021-02-08 16:25:00

Crazy idea...if you changed the fittings like a shower head they might have had a flow restrictor in there. Super basic, so I guess it's unlikely.

If it is the issue the water might just dribble out rather than shower. Easy fix, just unscrew the fixture and look for a piece of plastic blocking the flow or youtube.

Edited by sweetgurl108 at 6:16 pm, Mon 8 Feb

sweetgurl108 - 2021-02-08 18:12:00

We are having to move our mains pressure cylinder due to renovations, think we are going down the hot water heat pump route.

ryanm2 - 2021-02-08 21:16:00

My low pressure copper cylinder is now 30 years old and is still working fine. If the pressure was OK in the beginning it should be possible to fix it.

trade4us2 - 2021-02-08 21:49:00

sweetgurl108 wrote:

Crazy idea...if you changed the fittings like a shower head they might have had a flow restrictor in there. Super basic, so I guess it's unlikely.

If it is the issue the water might just dribble out rather than shower. Easy fix, just unscrew the fixture and look for a piece of plastic blocking the flow or youtube.

I'd also check showerhead condition. Many times I have found on jobs that the "lower pressure" was caused by buildup in the showerhead. A good clean or, if badly deteriorated, replacement of handpiece/rose fixes the problem. I'd advise on a second plumbers' opinion though as there are many reasons pressure may have dropped.

onone - 2021-02-10 19:07:00

apollo11 wrote:

You could get a gas Infiniti system put in and run it off bottles. Then you wouldn't have to pay a second lines charge. Friends have this and they swap the cylinder out quarterly.

You are forgetting the proposed plan to eliminate gas bottle fills by 2025.

3tomany - 2021-02-10 21:36:00

3tomany wrote:

You are forgetting the proposed plan to eliminate gas bottle fills by 2025.

There is no such plan....the advise to government is for no NEW gas connections permitted after 2025, but bottled gas to be phased out by 2050.

sparkychap - 2021-02-10 22:11:00