Who to hire when you have no hot water

Short answer

A licensed plumber, and for an electric storage system it may be an electrician instead — the water side is a plumber's and the element, thermostat and circuit are an electrician's. Before you ring either, check whether the system has simply lost power or gas, because that is the fault about a third of the time and it is free to rule out.

Soon, not tonightIt will not usually get cheaper by waiting, and it is rarely worth an after-hours rate.

When it is someone else

Calling the wrong trade costs an attendance fee to be told so. These are the cases where this problem belongs to someone other than a Plumber.

  • an electrician

    it is an electric storage unit and the fault is no power at all — a tripped circuit, a failed element or a dead thermostat. A plumber will usually tell you to get one rather than do it.

  • a solar hot water specialist

    it is a roof-mounted solar or heat-pump system. These have controllers, pumps and boost circuits that a general plumber may not carry parts for.

What to do before anyone arrives

  1. Find out what you have: a gas storage tank, an instantaneous gas unit on the wall, an electric storage tank, a heat pump, or solar panels on the roof with a tank. The answer changes who you ring.
  2. For gas: check other gas appliances still work. If the cooktop is dead too, it is the gas supply, not the water heater.
  3. For electric: check the switchboard for a tripped breaker, and check whether the unit is on a controlled-load tariff — those only heat overnight, so a long shower in the morning can empty a tank that is working perfectly.
  4. For instantaneous gas units: check the pilot or the ignition indicator, and look for an error code on the front. Quote the code when you ring; it saves diagnostic time.
  5. Look underneath the tank. Water pooling under a storage unit is a failed cylinder, and no amount of parts will fix that.

What to ask when you book

  • Do you carry parts for this brand, or is it order-in?
  • If it needs replacing, can you quote like-for-like and one more efficient option, with what the installation differences are?
  • Will the replacement need a tempering valve, an expansion valve or a new drain, and is that in the price?
  • Are you taking the old unit away?

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

  • Repair versus replace — a thermostat or an element is a small job, a corroded cylinder is a new unit.
  • Where the unit lives. A roof-mounted or internal-cupboard unit costs more to swap than one against an outside wall.
  • Whether the replacement has to meet current requirements the old one predates — tempering valve, safe tray, drain line, seismic restraint.
  • Changing fuel type. Going from electric to heat pump or to instantaneous gas usually means new wiring or new gas pipe sizing, and that is the real cost, not the box.

What you can do yourself

Is this licensed work?

Hot water systems sit across two licences. Connecting or replacing the unit and its water and gas connections is licensed plumbing and gasfitting work; the element, thermostat and the circuit feeding an electric unit are licensed electrical work. A tempering valve — the device that stops the water reaching a bathroom above the legislated maximum — is plumbing work and is not optional.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who should I hire when you have no hot water
A licensed plumber, and for an electric storage system it may be an electrician instead — the water side is a plumber's and the element, thermostat and circuit are an electrician's. Before you ring either, check whether the system has simply lost power or gas, because that is the fault about a third of the time and it is free to rule out.
How long should a hot water system last?
Manufacturers warrant cylinders for a period measured in years and the units routinely outlive it, which is why 'is it worth repairing' is really a question about age. A tank old enough that the warranty lapsed years ago, leaking from the cylinder rather than a fitting, is not a repair.
Why is my hot water lukewarm rather than absent?
On an electric storage unit with two elements, the lower one failing gives you a partial tank and lukewarm water — a classic symptom worth reporting because it points straight at the fault. On a mixer tap it can also be a failed cartridge letting cold across. Lukewarm everywhere is the system; lukewarm at one tap is the tap.
Is a plumber or an electrician cheaper for an electric hot water system?
Neither reliably, and the honest answer is that it depends on which side has failed. Describe the symptom precisely when you ring — no power at the unit versus water leaking from it — and a good tradesperson of either kind will tell you if it is the other one's job before they charge you to attend.

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Who to hire for

General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.