Burst geyser: what to do in the first 10 minutes

A geyser rarely gives much warning. One minute the ceiling is fine; the next there is a stain spreading across it and water running down a wall. What you do in the first ten minutes makes a real difference to how much damage you end up paying for.

Here is the order. Do it in this order — it matters.

1. Kill the electricity

Go to your DB board and switch off the geyser breaker. Do this before you touch the water. An element that carries on heating while the cylinder empties can fail badly, and you do not want live electricity anywhere near water that is now running through your ceiling.

2. Close the cold-water supply

There is an isolating valve on the cold feed into the geyser — usually near the cylinder itself. Close it. If you cannot find it or cannot reach it safely, close the main municipal stopcock at the boundary of the property instead. Every household should know where that is before the day they need it.

3. Open a hot tap

This relieves pressure in the system and lets the cylinder drain down in a controlled way rather than forcing more water into your ceiling. Leave it open.

4. Photograph everything, then call

Before you mop, move furniture or pull down sagging ceiling board, take photographs. Wide shots and close-ups. The ceiling, the walls, the floor, the cylinder, anything damaged. Your insurer will want to see the damage as it happened, not as it looked after you tidied up.

Then call us on 071 012 3456. Burst geysers jump our queue.

What happens next

We will tell you honestly whether the cylinder can be repaired or has to be replaced. A corroded or split cylinder is a replacement — there is no honest repair for it. A failed thermostat, element or pressure valve usually is not, and we carry those on the van.

A replacement is installed to SANS 10254: drip tray, overflow, pressure valve and vacuum breakers all to spec. We remove the old cylinder, leave the site clean, and give you the photographs and compliant paperwork your insurer will ask for.

The one thing worth doing before it happens

Most geysers last ten to fifteen years in Cape Town water. If yours is past that, the warning signs are rust in the hot water, knocking sounds, damp in the ceiling near the cylinder, and hot water that runs out sooner than it used to. A planned replacement, booked for a Tuesday morning, is considerably cheaper and drier than an emergency one at five on a Friday afternoon.