What's different about cylinders in Auckland
The network can switch yours off
Vector, whose lines run from Wellsford to Papakura, can turn hot water heating off to manage demand. It says pilot wires do this in North and West Auckland and ripple relays in Central and South Auckland, with smart meters slowly taking over. It usually lasts under three hours.
Slow to come back after storms
After a power cut, Vector says a cylinder can take up to six hours to reheat. Pilot wires are repaired after the power lines, so after a big storm some homes on the North Shore and in Waitakere wait for hot water until everyone's power is back.
A drip at the gully trap
Watercare's leak checklist asks whether the cylinder's relief valve is dripping into the gully trap, the grated drain outside where the waste pipes meet. Every drop that leaks on your side is water you still pay for.
Soft to moderately hard water
Watercare says even its groundwater sources, usually the harder ones, are 'soft' or 'moderately hard'. Minerals can still leave scale in hot water systems. A water softener is a plumber's install, and Watercare suggests leaving the kitchen tap unsoftened for drinking.
No hot water? Check these in order
Was there a power cut?
Give it up to six hours once the power is back, and check the cylinder's switch at the switchboard is on.
Still cold after six hours
For an electric cylinder on Vector's network, ring Vector on 0508 832 867: the fault may be in the meter box, or in pilot wire areas the service pilot wire or its relay. Parts of South Auckland are on Counties Power (0800 100 202) instead.
No power cut at all
Vector's advice is an electrician for an electric cylinder and a plumber for a gas one. Gas work itself needs an authorised gasfitter.
Water around the cylinder
Turn off its power or gas, and the cold water feeding it if that's safe, then get a hot water specialist to say whether it's a fitting or the cylinder.
Changing to a different kind
Watercare's minimum normal service target for water pressure is 200 kPa. Low pressure copper cylinders are built for no more than 120 kPa. So moving from low pressure to mains pressure is the plumber's call after a look at your pipes and valves, not an automatic swap.
A heat pump water heater draws warmth from the air and needs outdoor space. NIWA describes Auckland as mild, with frosts generally light and infrequent, though flats and valleys get more. Rheem's heat pump models still carry an electric back-up element for cold spells.
Wood burners are a main heating type in 12.4% of Auckland homes, against 28.2% nationally, and those figures are about space heating, not hot water. If yours has one, its cylinder can only be replaced without consent by a comparable open-vented cylinder in the same position on the same pipework (Schedule 1, clause 37).
The national rules, applied here
Who may work on a cylinder is set nationally. The person doing it must be authorised, usually with a current PGDB practising licence, and the Building Act exempts a replacement from consent only in set conditions and only when an authorised person does it. Our national cylinder page sets those out, and the consent guide takes each clause in turn.
With gas, an authorised gasfitter connects the heater and you get a Gas Safety Certificate once it's connected. Thinking about a califont instead? See califonts.
Questions for an Auckland hot water specialist
- Could Vector's load control explain why our hot water goes cold?
- Why is the relief valve dripping, and does it need replacing?
- Will our pipes take mains pressure, or should we stay low pressure?
- Is there scale in the cylinder, and would a softener be worth it here?
What we would do
Before you book anyone for a cold cylinder, rule out the network: a recent power cut, a switch at the switchboard or Vector's load control can each explain a cold morning. Water dripping into the gully trap or pooling under the cylinder is different. That's a plumbing fault, you're paying for every litre, and it's worth fixing that week. If the cylinder itself is leaking, plan the replacement, and decide then whether to stay with the same kind.