GCO assists with a water leak repair in Maroochydore Andrew, a resident from Maroochydore, was shocked to receive his most recent water bill from Unity Water. The bill for this usage period had skyrocketed and was more than triple his last bill. As his water usage habits hadn’t changed Andrew suspected that there may be a water leak somewhere on his Maroochydore property. Andrew called Greg from GCO Plumbing & Gas, who promptly attended to investigate the problem. The first thing Greg did was check the water meter. He found it to be turning at a significant rate (higher than it should be). After confirming the meter reading, Greg then checked for any obvious water leakage from toilet cisterns, as well as all internal and external taps. Unfortunately, there were no obvious, easily fixed leaks. In order to find the sneaky water leak, Greg had to get out the pipe and water leak detection equipment. After using the pipe and water leak detection equipment, the leak was identified under Andrew’s concrete driveway from the main water supply pipe between the water meter and the house. With the client’s approval to get the job done, Greg neatly cut the driveway to remove a section of the concrete slab in order to access the leak underneath. He then excavated down to expose the leaking pipe. After replacing the leaking section of pipework and verifying that there were no further leaks, Greg backfilled the soil, reinforced and re-concreted the cut section of the driveway. Andrew was concerned about this happening again, therefore Greg discussed with Andrew some options to help prevent such unwanted surprises in the future. The option Andrew chose was to fit a leak detection monitor device to his water system, which detects water flow over a period of time, and shuts off the water if the flow time is exceeded. Andrew was very happy with this outcome, and could relax without worrying about any nasty surprises when his next Unity Water bill arrives. If you are experiencing unexpectedly high water bills or suspect a water leak on your property call us for water leak detection Sunshine Coast locals can rely on. We also assist with general plumbing requirements and a range of other domestic and commercial plumbing services. Contact the plumber Sunshine Coast locals trust – GCO Plumbing & Gas! Fully licensed plumbers available 7 days a week. Call GCO on 0409 190 733 or email greg@gcoplumbing.com.au

GCO assist a client with a blocked toilet in Buderim, QLD John a resident in Buderim was concerned about a toilet in his recently renovated bathroom that was continually blocking up, so he gave GCO Plumbing & Gas a call. Greg from GCO Plumbing & Gas attended the property and did an inspection of the problem that John was pointing out. Greg found all other drains in the house to be flowing well, so he knew the location of the issue was in close proximity to the toilet in question. After removing the toilet to further inspect the drain, Greg found a build-up of toilet paper on an offset adaptor that connects the outlet of the toilet to the drainpipe. Offset adaptors, whilst being a fully approved fitting are a very common cause of blocked toilets. Particularly the larger 40mm offset adaptors. In John’s case, the plumber who completed the bathroom renovation used a 40mm offset connection due to the drainpipe coming through the concrete slab too far from the wall. The offset adaptor was correctly fitted to allow the toilet suite to be installed fully back to the wall. Unfortunately, though, this offset adaptor could not cope with the amount of paper constantly being flushed down the toilet and is what led to the blockage issues. To fix the fault, Greg fitted a 20mm offset adaptor, which allowed for a much less restricted flow. The compromise was that the toilet cistern would now sit 20mm off the wall. John, however, was most happy with this solution, as 12 months on, the toilet has not blocked again since Greg’s correction. The other solution to this fault may have been to install a different style of toilet suite, or a much more expensive option would have been to cut open the concrete slab to alter the below-ground drainage pipe. However, for this job, we worked within John’s budget and found a solution that suited him. Contact the plumber Buderim locals call when they need their plumbing problems solved If you are experiencing blocked drains, blocked toilets or have general plumbing requirements, call the reliable plumber Sunshine Coast locals trust – GCO Plumbing & Gas! Fully licensed plumbers in Buderim available 7 days a week. Call GCO on 0409 190 733 or email greg@gcoplumbing.com.au