Hot Water Systems
Gas storage, continuous flow, electric, solar and heat pump systems across the Perth metro.
Learn more →Taps
A tap that drips is telling you one of two things. On a traditional tap, the washer has gone or the seat it closes against has become rough enough that no washer will hold. On a mixer, the ceramic disc cartridge has worn or picked up grit.
Perth's hard water makes the seat problem much more common than it is in soft-water cities. Mineral deposits on the brass seat give the washer a rough surface to close on, and it wears through quickly. The durable repair is to reseat the tap as well as re-washer it. A washer change on its own on a pitted seat will drip again inside a year.
Other tap work: stiff or seized spindles, worn O-rings causing a leak at the base of a spout, chattering taps caused by a loose washer, and replacing tapware outright during a bathroom or kitchen update.
Toilets
A cistern that keeps running. The inlet valve is not shutting off, or the outlet valve seal is not seating. Both are parts, both are quick, and both are worth doing immediately because a running cistern wastes water continuously and silently.
A weak or incomplete flush. Usually the outlet valve or the flush volume adjustment. Occasionally a partially blocked rim channel — more common in hard-water areas, where mineral builds up in the small holes around the pan rim.
A leak at the base. Either the pan connector or the cistern-to-pan seal. It is worth acting on quickly, because water tracking under a pan onto a timber floor or under tiles causes more damage than the repair costs.
A suite that is past it. Old suites with unavailable internals, cracked pans, and hidden-cistern systems where the in-wall parts have failed. Replacement is sometimes genuinely the cheaper answer.
Water pressure
Two properties on the same street can have noticeably different pressure, and a lot of tap complaints are actually pressure complaints. Mains pressure that is too high shortens the life of every washer, seal and flexible hose in the house and is a common cause of a hot water relief valve that weeps constantly. A pressure limiting valve at the meter fixes it.
Pressure that is too low is more often a partially closed isolating valve, a blocked aerator, or a corroded section of old galvanised pipe still in service.
Worth knowing before you call
Flexible braided hoses under sinks and basins have a finite life and fail without warning, usually by splitting and releasing full mains pressure into a vanity cupboard. They are cheap. If yours are more than about a decade old and nobody has looked at them, that is a job worth bundling with anything else.
If the problem is water appearing with no visible source, it is a leak detection job rather than a tap job. If a toilet is backing up rather than running, that is blocked drains. Everything else around the house is covered on the plumbing services page.
More services
Explore our other services
Hot Water Installation
Like-for-like swaps, relocations and changeovers between gas, electric and heat pump.
Learn more →Hot Water Repairs
Elements, thermostats, thermocouples, anodes and tempering valves — repaired where repair is honest.
Learn more →Emergency Hot Water Replacement
Same-day changeover when a cylinder splits or an old unit stops for good.
Learn more →Blocked Drains
Jetting, electric eel and CCTV for sewer, stormwater and kitchen waste blockages.
Learn more →Burst and Leaking Pipes
Copper pin-holing, poly joint failures and slab leaks isolated and repaired.
Learn more →Leak Detection
Finding the leak behind a rising Water Corporation bill before anyone digs.
Learn more →Gas Fitting
Bayonets, cooktops, gas points and appliance connections on mains gas or LPG.
Learn more →Gas Leak Repairs
Smell gas? Isolate at the meter, get outside, then call. Pressure testing and repair.
Learn more →Backflow Prevention
Testable backflow devices installed and tested to keep your supply separate from the main.
Learn more →General Plumbing
The everyday work — renovations, relocations, roof plumbing and maintenance.
Learn more →
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
How much water does a dripping tap actually waste?
More than it looks. A tap dripping once a second is in the order of several thousand litres a year, and a tap dripping on the hot side wastes the energy used to heat that water as well. A toilet cistern running continuously is far worse again and is the single most common cause of a mystery jump in a Water Corporation bill.
Why do tap washers fail so often in Perth?
Hard water. Dissolved mineral in Perth scheme water deposits on the seat that the washer closes against, roughening it. A rough seat chews through washers. Re-seating the tap with a reseating tool at the same time as changing the washer is what makes the repair last, and skipping it is why a tap starts dripping again within months.
My toilet keeps running after it flushes. Is that a big job?
Usually not. It is nearly always the inlet valve failing to shut off or the outlet valve seal not seating, and both are replaceable parts. The harder cases are older or imported suites where the internals are no longer available, in which case replacing the whole cistern mechanism or the suite becomes the practical option.
Can a mixer tap be repaired or does it need replacing?
Most single-lever mixers use a replaceable ceramic disc cartridge, and swapping it fixes both dripping and stiff operation. The catch is availability — cartridges are brand and model specific, and for an unbranded or discontinued tap the part often cannot be sourced. Bringing the old cartridge to a supplier is the fastest way to match it.
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