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[John]

I received a call from my tenants last night to say there was water leaking into my studio apartment in Sydney’s inner west.  On investigation, the water appeared to emanate from apartment above which was unattended and locked.

I’m on Exec Committee of the block and called the owner for permission to enter.  This was given.  The water was flooding into my apartment and some others surrounding mine.

We contacted the fire brigade eventually, and a plumber.  The fire brigade forced the lock, entered and discovered that the hot water tank had failed and water was flooding this and other apartments. They did a great job cleaning up the excess water.  Thank you firies !

This apartment now needs a new carpet, and who knows what other damage has been caused.  My kitchen floor, and possibly the carpet and some fittings will need to be replaced.

This disaster could easily have been avoided had the owner, or agent, had the foresight to install a copper tray with an outlet pipe underneath the hot water tank on installation.  I’ve done this myself whenever replacing these tanks and it seems such an obvious solution to the havoc a leaking tank can create.  

Why is this practice not mandatory for all new HWS installations ?

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