Hot water installation day in South East Melbourne, stage by stage
Exactly how long each stage takes, how long your water is off, what you need to move, and what a clean finish looks like before we drive away.
A like-for-like storage swap in Berwick, Cranbourne or Narre Warren takes 2 to 3 hours on site, with your mains water off for 90 minutes to 2 hours of that. A gas storage unit changed to continuous flow is about half a day. A heat pump conversion needing a new circuit is 4 to 6 hours and usually has an electrician on site as well. Solar thermal with roof collectors is a full day. The van needs a park within about 30 m, the noisiest stretch is 2 to 3 minutes of angle grinder, and the old cylinder leaves with us the same day.
Ten stages of a standard changeover
Times below are for a like-for-like storage swap in a reasonable position. Add roughly two hours for a fuel change, and a whole day if collectors are going on the roof.
| Stage | How long | What happens | What you need to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Phone triage and booking | 10-15 minutes, days before | We confirm the model, capacity, position and fuel, check stock, and lock a two hour arrival window. | Send a photo of the data plate and a photo of the space around the unit. |
| 2. Arrival and site check | 15-20 minutes | Park, walk the path, confirm clearances, isolate the water and the gas or power, lay drop sheets. | Have the side gate unlocked and one car off the driveway. |
| 3. Draining the old tank | 20-40 minutes | A 250 to 315 L cylinder empties through a garden hose to a legal discharge point. Uphill runs take longer. | Tell us where the hose can discharge and clear that path. |
| 4. Disconnect and remove | 30-45 minutes | Gas capped and tested or the circuit isolated and made safe, pipework cut back, old cylinder trolleyed out. | Keep pets and children inside for this stage. |
| 5. Base, position and mount | 20-60 minutes | The new unit is rarely the same footprint, so the pad gets levelled or a new bracket is drilled into brick. | Expect 2 to 5 minutes of hammer drill. |
| 6. Plumbing and the valve set | 45-90 minutes | New tempering valve, PTR valve, expansion control, isolating valves and flexible connections. | This is the stretch with no water at any tap. |
| 7. Gas or electrical connection | 30 minutes to 3 hours | Gas leak test and appliance commissioning, or an electrician runs a dedicated circuit and RCD for a heat pump. | Clear access to the meter box and the switchboard. |
| 8. Fill, purge and commission | 20-40 minutes | Tank fills, air is purged at the highest tap, storage set to 60°C, outlets tempered to a maximum of 50°C and measured. | Leave the taps alone until we say they are ready. |
| 9. Test, clean and load out | 20-30 minutes | Every outlet run, the tundish and relief drain checked, copper offcuts collected, old unit loaded on the truck. | Walk the job with us before we leave. |
| 10. Compliance certificate | Lodged and emailed within 5 business days | Certificate lodged, warranty paperwork, manual and valve labels handed over. | File it with the house papers. It matters for 10 years and at sale. |
Hot water is usually back and up to temperature within 60 to 90 minutes of the new unit being connected. Call 0485 813 822 if you need a specific arrival window.
Prepare for the crew checklist
Tick these off and the job runs 30 to 60 minutes shorter, which is money you keep. Your ticks are saved in this browser and the print button gives you a clean page for the fridge.
A week before
The night before
The morning of the install
Before the crew drives away
Call us straight away if you see these in the first week
Need a specific arrival window?
Tell us the school run, the work-from-home hours or the shift you finish, and we will book around it.
Access, parking, power and water
Parking. The van needs a legal park within about 30 m of the unit, because a full 315 L cylinder weighs over 300 kg wet and even empty it is 60 to 80 kg of awkward steel on a trolley. On the narrow courts through Clyde and Officer, and on the older kerbless streets in Doveton, that often means one car off the driveway. On a townhouse with rear-lane access, tell us before the day so we bring the smaller trolley.
Water. The whole house loses water pressure while the cold main to the unit is isolated, so plan on 90 minutes to 2 hours dry. That is the single thing people underestimate: no coffee machine, no toilet refill, no rinsing the kids' cereal bowls. Two buckets and a full kettle covers it.
Power. A heat pump needs a dedicated circuit. If the switchboard is a ceramic-fuse board, which we still see regularly in the older parts of Endeavour Hills, Doveton and Hampton Park, the electrician will need to upgrade it, and that adds $800 to $2,000 and an hour or two. We flag the risk at quote stage and photograph the board so nobody discovers it at 11am.
Gas. A continuous flow unit at 26 L/min draws far more gas than an old storage tank. If the existing run is undersized the unit will underperform, so we test the pressure and upsize where needed, which is $300 to $900 and about an hour.
Noise, smell, pets and working from home
The loudest part of the day is 2 to 3 minutes of angle grinder cutting the old copper and the strapping, plus 2 to 5 minutes of hammer drill if a new bracket goes into brick. Everything else is hand tools and a torch. There is no demolition dust and no rubble, but you will smell flux, thread compound and, on a gas job, a brief whiff of gas when the line is broken and re-tested. That is normal and it clears in minutes.
Dogs are the most common complication, because the side gate stays open for two to three hours and there is a stranger walking a trolley past the back door. Inside or in a front room is best. Small children are fine indoors; the work area itself has hot water, sharp copper and a heavy cylinder in it, so it is not a spot to supervise from. If you work from home, tell us your meeting times when you book and we will do the grinding and drilling around them.
What stalls a job, and what the weather does
Four things account for almost every overrun. First, a switchboard that will not take another circuit. Second, an old copper stub that has corroded so far back into the wall that we have to open the cavity to get a clean joint. Third, a position that no longer meets clearances, usually because a deck, pergola or air conditioner condenser was built around the tank after it was installed, which means the unit has to move and the job grows by $450 to $1,200. Fourth, a unit that turns out to be a different fuel or capacity to what the phone call described, which is why the data plate photo matters so much.
Weather rarely stops a ground-level changeover: we work through Melbourne rain and we work through a cold snap. Roof work is different. Solar collectors do not go on a wet or frosted roof, so a July install can slide a day or two, and on a total fire ban or an extreme heat day above about 38°C we start early and stop before the middle of the afternoon. If the forecast is going to move your job, you will hear from us the day before, not on the morning.
What a clean site looks like, and where the waste goes
Before we leave, the pad is swept, the drop sheets are up, the tundish and the relief drain are visible and discharging to a safe point, the valves are labelled, and there are no copper offcuts in the garden bed. That last one matters more than it sounds: an offcut in the lawn finds a mower tyre or a dog's paw eventually. You get a walk-through, the manual, the warranty paperwork, and the model and serial number written down.
The old cylinder goes on the truck the same day and off to a scrap metal recycler, because the steel shell, the copper and the brass valves all have recovery value. Disposal is inside our price rather than a $80 to $150 surprise at the end. Cardboard and pallets are recycled. On a heat pump removal, the refrigerant must be recovered by a licensed person and is never vented to atmosphere. If you have just had a burst and there is water damage as well, the burst hot water insurance page covers what your insurer will want from us in writing.
Once it is in, the paperwork side is covered on the compliance certificate page, what is and is not covered afterwards is on hot water warranties in Victoria, and if you are still choosing between systems, start with choosing a hot water system or the budget guide.
Installation day questions
How long does a hot water installation take?
How long will my water be off during the install?
What do I need to move before the plumber arrives?
How noisy and messy is a hot water changeover?
What happens to the old hot water unit and the packaging?
When do I get the compliance certificate?
Book an install day that fits around your week
Send your details and we will confirm a date, a two hour arrival window and a fixed price within one business day.
No hot water right now?
Call before midday on a weekday and a same-day swap is usually possible on common units.