HOT WATER — COASTAL STRATA
Twelve hot water systems, one salt problem, and a block that stopped replacing them yearly.
01 — PROJECT OVERVIEW
A twelve-unit block a few streets from Manly beach had been replacing hot water systems piecemeal for years — one or two failing every winter, each replaced with whatever was cheapest and available that week.
02 — THE CHALLENGE
Salt-laden air from both the ocean and the harbour was destroying standard units well before their rated life, and nobody had connected the individual failures into a pattern. The building also had no shared shutdown plan, so each replacement disrupted several units.
03 — OUR APPROACH
1Audited all twelve units and found nine already corroding externally, with three anodes fully consumed.
2Specified systems rated for coastal installation rather than the standard equivalents, sized to each unit's actual occupancy.
3Replaced all twelve over two consecutive days, isolating one riser at a time so no unit lost water for more than a few hours.
4Put every system on a two-yearly anode inspection so the tanks are maintained rather than replaced.
04 — THE OUTCOME
✓Whole building moved onto coastal-rated units in one coordinated job.
✓Anode inspections scheduled, which is what actually extends tank life this close to the surf.
✓Owners corporation now budgets a known maintenance cost instead of unpredictable emergency replacements.
✓No unit without hot water overnight during the changeover.