Inquiry into water quality after water cylinder failures

The mystery of what is causing Hastings water cylinders to leak has deepened, but investigators have ruled out one likely source.

Statistics show low-pressure copper hot water cylinders are about 20 times more likely to fail in Hastings than the rest of New Zealand.

According to 2018 census data, the entire Hastings District makes up about 1.7 per cent of occupied private dwellings in New Zealand.

But postcodes 4120 and 4122 (which represent most of Hastings’ urban area) have been responsible for 34 per cent of nationwide failures and warranty claims in the last 12 months.

Sales of replacement cylinders within the postcodes — which include Flaxmere, Saint Leonards, Mahora, Raureka, Mahora, Camberley, Tomoana, Longlands, Frimley, Woolwich, Parkvale, Akina and Mayfair — have more than trebled since the 2016 Havelock North water crisis, which saw chlorine added to the city’s water.

Warranty claims have also increased a similar amount in the same period.

Hastings District Council group manager for asset management Craig

Thew said the council had conducted extensive water testing but had uncovered no potential cause for the issue.

But investigators did find that chlorine is unlikely to be the reason, Thew said.

“It is particular to a small area of Hastings, and given almost all of New Zealand has chlorine in the water and other areas haven’t, in the main, seen hot water cylinder issues, it seems that something else that is hard to detect might be going on.

Master Plumbers CEO Greg Wallace said he still wants Hastings District Council to urgently get an independent assessor in to look at the water. “We’re asking for an independent report into the water quality issues that are causing hot water cylinders to fail.”

Flaxmere resident Glenn Olsson’s hot water cylinder was installed March 1, 2017, and had been leaking for months before he became aware around June this year, shortly after the five-year warranty had expired.

“It was leaking through the inlets, through the electrical,” Olsson said.

“That is one thing that needs to be pointed out with these cylinders failing — how lucky it is that people haven’t been electrocuted.”

Photo / Warren Buckland Glenn Olsson wants other Hastings residents to check their lowpressure copper hot water cylinders. His was leaking for months before he noticed it after the warranty expired.