Where's the water going?

Gerry-Built said :

lobster said :

Maybe the hot water system is leaking?

right on the money lobster. Village sent someone out this morning and found it (and I am assuming fixed it). The Dux solar hot water system can have issues with Canberra climate in winter. My friend is much happier and stress free than she has been for a couple of weeks(but considerably out-of-pocket)…

Dux have apparently extended their warranty in the ACT region. If this is a known fault; something needs to be done to rectify the problem BEFORE it happens in the hundreds of systems fitted (especially if out of the extended warranty period) – not after thousands of litres of water have literally gone down the drain and householders (in *NEW* houses) have been forced to pay thousands of dollars to Actew and independent plumbers. Perhaps the person at Village who printed this post and sent it out with the maintainance guy might like to get on to Dux to help recompense those affected by what amounts to products that are not up to their intended purpose. If you have a Dux solar hot water system – probably a good idea to get that valve looked at if your water bill becomes unexpectedly high during the colder months… Hopefully that Rainbank functions ‘normally’ when it is reinstalled…

I have one of the Dux Aeroheat “Solar” HWS (retrofitted with the sub-zero chip) and it is saving me heaps in electricity. When I had it installed I put a bucket under the overflow tap to collect garden water and it was filling twice a day which was too much as far as I was concerned. The Dux people sent a plumber around and they replaced the mains pressure valve – he said this had been a common problem. I am now lucky to get a bucketful a fortnight from the overflow. I can’t understand why water tanks are required when we have reticulated water which we pay for both the fixed supply cost and the useage. Who made them mandatory and why?

I still am having the above issue, can anyone help?

Hi, I also live on Macgregor West and am having the same issue, with crazy high water bills. I have exactly the same set-up as the friend in this post. I have checked for leaks, talked to Actew, Village – its the same story as this post, it’s a Davey issue….
You can the water gushing through the pipes and down the overflow from the tank. I have to manually turn the switch to turn it off, to stop it. I have been having this issue for sometime now.
Just wanted to confirm, it was the hot water that was the issue?
Has anyone else had this problem and found it was / wasn’t the hot water system ?
When I first got into the place, the plumber had not connected the hot water to anything…….yup, had to get the plummer in to take out part of the wall and connect the hot water system to the pipes, also have had a solar hot water panel issue due to the frosts in Canberra. If anyone is having this problem, you need to have installed 2 anti-frost valves.
Ali

Clever Plumber,

Mk II rainbank does not do mains mixing once again your purporting nonsense.
Other fake products on the market require mains power for the mains water to come through, by utilising solenoids. What would you do if there was no mains power, get no water hey?

Gretchen Metchen,

Specialised Float Installs and Pumps.

It seems like you neanderthals are inappropriately informed.

If a customer ensures their roof is kept clean and gutters free of leaves , just like any normal house holder should do, then this said debris shouldnt get through and jam things up.

So many plumbers out there don’t bother to read instructions and stupidly plug the power for both the controller and pump into seperate power points, and guess what, hey presto, the pump continuously runs!
If plumbers read the instructions properly and ensured when cutting hole for the float switch that the swarf did not enter the tank then the issue of mains going back into the tank wouldn’t occur.

Yours faithfully

Gretchen Metchen,

Specialised Float Installs and Pumps.

Firstly, The Rain bank even when in use always blends water from Mains and Tank, this is mentioned in the rain bank literature, for this reason I don’t think the Davey Rain Bank is a good product for what it’s used for, it is well marketed however it have many weak points. If what the user says is true, the best way to stop this is to connect a Check valve on the tank outlet.

The technology in Rain bank is pretty much outdated, there are better products on Market including the AcquaSaver, which closes the mains port before opening the pump/tank port, this stops any back flow or water blending from two sources. It is also completely hydraulic so not electrical components and really well priced.

lobster said :

Maybe the hot water system is leaking?

right on the money lobster. Village sent someone out this morning and found it (and I am assuming fixed it). The Dux solar hot water system can have issues with Canberra climate in winter. My friend is much happier and stress free than she has been for a couple of weeks(but considerably out-of-pocket)…

Dux have apparently extended their warranty in the ACT region. If this is a known fault; something needs to be done to rectify the problem BEFORE it happens in the hundreds of systems fitted (especially if out of the extended warranty period) – not after thousands of litres of water have literally gone down the drain and householders (in *NEW* houses) have been forced to pay thousands of dollars to Actew and independent plumbers. Perhaps the person at Village who printed this post and sent it out with the maintainance guy might like to get on to Dux to help recompense those affected by what amounts to products that are not up to their intended purpose. If you have a Dux solar hot water system – probably a good idea to get that valve looked at if your water bill becomes unexpectedly high during the colder months… Hopefully that Rainbank functions ‘normally’ when it is reinstalled…

Maybe the hot water system is leaking?

The dual check valve will between the water mains and the pump, not the tank and pump. It’s there to prevent backflow from the house/tank into the water mains in the event of a pressure drop (broken mains pipe etc.).

It sure is unfortunate that some people are being hit by costs due to faulty water systems – on top of paying out for water tanks – which are in most metro areas an expensive way to source water.
It is far cheaper to pay water authorities to run well planned town supply systems. There is a pdf RainBank manual which is easy to find using google – explains a lot. Could not see much on the Davey website except some videos which my Gungahlin connection breaks up.

On page 4/36 in the manual Davey says, “RainBank® has an in-built “dual
check valve” for low hazard back flow prevention.”

Anybody know the significance of “low hazard” ? Sounds as though a back flow issue was known by Davey.
Interesting post when we had 53mm of rain overnight (452mm year to date)- so people who have paid for tanks should be smiling.