Water Hammer After a New Shower Mixer? Here’s What’s Happening
water hammer after new shower mixer: Just renovated and now your pipes bang every time you shut the shower? Here's…
Home Plumbing Maintenance in Melbourne: A Season-by-Season Calendar
Most maintenance guides cram everything into one big annual inspection. After years of doing these checks across Melbourne, I split them across the year instead, because each season stresses a different part of the system. Winter loads up the hot water and heating. Summer hammers the outdoor water. Autumn fills the gutters. Spread the checks out and each one takes twenty minutes instead of a lost Saturday.
Some items on this calendar take five minutes and a torch. Others are licensed work. I’ve flagged which is which throughout.
I’m Alister, the licensed plumber and gasfitter at Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting. BPC Licence No. 103414.
Spring: the indoor once-over
Pipework has just been through Melbourne’s winter, with cold contraction and slow leaks that opened up over the cold months. Spring is when you find them, while a repair is still a planned job and not an emergency callout.
Walk the visible pipework with a torch
DIY.
Under every sink, behind the toilet, in the laundry, under the hot water unit, and (if accessible) in the subfloor. You’re looking for green or blue staining on copper joints (slow leak), white mineral powder around fittings (a slow leak that dried), water-stained timber, rust at the base of any galvanised pipe, and active dripping.
What gets missed without this check: a fitting under the kitchen sink that’s been weeping a teaspoon a day for three months. Not enough to puddle, plenty to rot the cabinet base.
Test every tap for flow and drip
DIY.
Turn each tap fully open: kitchen, bathroom basins, shower, bath, laundry, outdoor. Watch the flow. A tap that’s slower than the others usually has a clogged aerator (DIY clean) or a degraded jumper valve (DIY washer replacement, permitted under Schedule 4 of the Plumbing Regulations 2018). Turn each off firmly and check for any drip 30 seconds later.
If a mixer tap drips from the spout when fully off, that’s the cartridge, which is licensed work. Mixer cartridges aren’t on the DIY-legal list because the job involves the pressurised supply.
Drainage speed test
DIY.
Fill each basin and bath to overflow level, then pull the plug and time how long it takes to empty. A standard basin should drain in under a minute; a bath in under two. Slower than that means a partial blockage is building. Try a plunger (Schedule 4 permits this). If it’s still slow, you’ve probably got a vent issue or a build-up further down the line, and that’s licensed work.
Toilet check: flush, no run, no rock
DIY for inspection.
Three things on each toilet. Full flush: both buttons should clear the bowl cleanly; a weak flush points to an inlet valve issue or low cistern level. No running: the cistern should refill, stop completely, and stay silent; any continuous hiss means inlet washer wear or a float that needs adjusting. No rock: the pan shouldn’t move when pushed side to side; a rocking toilet means the seal under the base is leaking and subfloor damage is happening.
A continuously running cistern wastes somewhere between 20 and 100 litres an hour. Over a quarter, that shows up on the water bill. Adjusting the float or replacing the inlet washer is a cheap fix if booked early.
Summer: outdoor water works hardest
Gardens, irrigation and outdoor taps do most of their year’s work between December and March, so check them before the heat arrives.
Outdoor taps and irrigation
DIY (mostly).
Check every garden tap, irrigation controller and visible line. Common finds: a tap that drips even when shut (washer replacement, Schedule 4 DIY), a leaking hose connector (replace it), a blocked or misaligned irrigation pop-up (clear and adjust), and damp patches in the lawn where there shouldn’t be any, which usually means a buried leak and licensed work.
Backflow prevention device annual test
Licensed plumber with backflow endorsement only.
If your property has a backflow device (common with irrigation systems, dual occupancy water supplies, or commercial-grade fittings), it must be tested annually and certified, with the certificate lodged with your water authority. If you don’t know whether you have one, look for a brass valve assembly with two test cocks near where the main water enters the property. Details on the device and testing are on our backflow prevention page.
Autumn: get ready for the wet
Leaf fall and the first cold snaps arrive together. Autumn is about drainage and getting gas heating serviced before you depend on it.
Roof and gutters
DIY for the visual check; gutter work is safer with a tradie if the roof is steep.
Look for blocked downpipes (debris jammed at the elbow), gutters sagging or pulling away from the fascia, water stains on the eaves (overflow has been happening), and silt at the bottom of downpipes (debris washing into the stormwater system).
Blocked stormwater is a common cause of subfloor flooding in Melbourne winter. The fix is usually a high-pressure flush of the stormwater line, which is licensed drainage work.
Stormwater pit inspection
DIY for inspection.
If you have an exposed stormwater pit or grate in the yard, lift the cover (heavy, use two hands). Look for standing water (the line is blocked downstream), tree roots growing through the joints, and the silt level. Pits should be empty or near-empty between rain events. Standing water 24 hours after rain means the line is failing.
Gas appliance service, before heating season
Licensed gasfitter only.
Gas appliances (cooktop, oven, hot water unit, ducted heater, gas log fire) should be serviced every two years by a licensed gasfitter. Check your last service paperwork, and if it’s older than two years, book the service in autumn so the heater is verified before you run it all winter. A proper gas service includes carbon monoxide testing, which is the only reliable way to catch a flue leak before it becomes a health risk.
Carbon monoxide detector check
DIY.
If you have any gas appliance indoors, especially an older heater, a CO detector is cheap insurance. Press the test button monthly. Replace the unit every 5 to 7 years, since the sensors have a finite life. Detectors run around $40 to $80 retail, and we cover the topic in more depth on our carbon monoxide testing page.
Winter: hot water under load
Your hot water system works hardest in winter, and winter is when marginal systems fail. Do this check at the start of the season.
Hot water system: the four-part check
Licensed for the work, DIY for the inspection.
Age. Storage units typically last 8 to 12 years. The manufacture date is on the dataplate. Over 10 years without a service means it’s due.
Pressure relief valve. The valve with a lever on the side or top. Lift the lever briefly; water should flow out the discharge pipe and stop when you release. No flow means the valve is seized. A constant slow drip from the discharge pipe means it’s venting, from a heating element issue, expansion issue, or supply pressure that’s too high. Either way, get a plumber.
Sediment. Rumbling or banging from the bottom of the tank when it heats is sediment build-up, and the unit is losing efficiency. The flush is a licensed job, not because the procedure is complex, but because isolating the hot water supply safely is licensed work.
Anode rod. The sacrificial rod inside the tank corrodes so the tank doesn’t. Useful life is typically 5 to 7 years. If the unit is 7 or older and the anode has never been checked, that’s often why the running costs have crept up. Our hot water service page covers repairs versus replacement.
Know your stop tap
DIY, five minutes, worth more than everything else on this list.
Find the isolation valve at your water meter and make sure everyone in the house knows where it is and that it actually turns. When a pipe or flexi hose lets go in July, the difference between thirty seconds and ten minutes of mains-pressure water is the difference between a mop-up and an insurance claim. If a burst does happen, our burst and leaking pipe repair page covers what we do on arrival.
What the calendar saves you
A planned plumbing visit for a service-only check typically runs $180 to $350 in Melbourne. That visit catches the dripping mixer (a $200 to $400 cartridge) before it becomes a cabinet rebuild at $2,000 plus. It catches a failing pressure relief valve before the tank over-pressurises. It catches the running toilet before the quarterly water bill jumps.
It also gets you a Compliance Certificate for any licensed work done, which goes into the file you hand the buyer’s conveyancer when you eventually sell.
FAQs
Do renters or landlords pay for plumbing maintenance?
In Victoria, landlords are responsible for keeping the plumbing in good repair under the Residential Tenancies Act. Preventative servicing isn’t legally mandated, but reactive repairs (a failing hot water system, a blocked main drain) are the landlord’s cost.
Can I do all of this myself?
You can do every inspection on this calendar yourself. The repairs split into two groups: things on the Schedule 4 DIY-legal list (tap washers, plunger blockages, garden hose taps) and licensed work (everything else). If in doubt, the rule is: if it stays connected when you walk away, it’s licensed work.
What’s the most common issue you find on these checks?
Slow leaks under kitchen and bathroom sinks. They’re almost always one of three things: a hand-tightened fitting that’s loosened over time, a flexi hose past its rated life (typically 5 to 10 years, and they fail catastrophically when they fail), or a worn washer on the isolation valve. Each is a small repair if caught early.
How long does a full check take if I book a plumber?
About 60 to 90 minutes for a standard 3-bedroom Melbourne home, longer if the hot water unit needs flushing or the gas service is due. Most of that time is access, getting under sinks and into the subfloor, rather than the inspection itself.
I haven’t had a plumbing check in 5+ years. What should I do?
Book the full check rather than waiting for something to fail. The high-probability finds in a long-unchecked Melbourne home: flexi hoses past their rated life, a sediment-clogged hot water unit, at least one slow drain building toward a blockage, and in pre-1990 homes, potentially a galvanised water main starting to rust through. None of these are emergencies if found early; all of them are emergencies if found the hard way.
Book in
If you’d like the checks done properly, with a Compliance Certificate for any work and a written note of anything to watch, ring 0475 407 670 or contact Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting. The checks themselves are straightforward; the value is catching problems while they’re still small.
Alister Williams, Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting
BPC Licence No. 103414 · ABN 12 721 359 467
