Some maintenance advice please?

I got an email just now from my PM:


The tenant has advised our office of the following maintenance:

1. Bathroom window lock not working
2. Kitchen window lock not working
3. Hot water system will not keep a steady temperature
4. Bathroom shower head will not stay up


Are we able to organise to have these items attended to?


Questions

#1 and #2
There arn't any window locks at all in the unit. So maybe the tenant means that the windows are not shutting properly. Is this something I myself can take a look or my PM can take a look first so that I dont have to call someone out to look at it?


# 4
Cant the lady just tighten the shower head herself?? Its not something that I/my PM or a handyman needs to fix is it?


#3
The hot water system is a new one so I dont know why the hot water system wont keep a steady temperature? Anyone have that problem? Perhaps I need to ring Perth Gas Centre to get them to look at it. I dunno. Or maybe its best if my PM turns it on and looks at it first.


thanks for your help
 
Just some casual advise from me, better look-up before acting upon:

ignore the lock requests; not your problem ... last thing you know she'll be asking for internal locks on all doors too !

probably have a look at the shower head yourself, a 2 min. wrench job or worst case replace it with a new "water saving" one ...

no idea about the hot water thing
 
check out the shower head.. it might be something simple.. it is very annoying having a shower head fall down no matter how hard you tighten it.

if the HWS is new... call the company who installed it and ask some question... might be a warrenty thing, or something simple they can advise on.
 
3. Hot water system will not keep a steady temperature

Does this property have its own HWS, or is it supplied as part of a block of units?
Is it an electric storage type HWS or gas instantaneous, sometimes an instataneous won't heat up as quick as they can be used.

If it has its own HWS and the building is fairly new, it is probably fitted with a tempering valve which keeps the maximum temp lower in bathrooms etc to prevent scolding.

The tenant may be comparing the temps between the kitchen and bathroom which would be at different temps, but it is normal to operate this way.:)
 
Good luck getting your PM over there to look at it for you. Unless there's a buck in it for them, I doubt they would do anything.
Better off having a look at it yourself, if you have the time and inclination.
Failing that, get the agent's handyman over there to have a look.
For a minimal cost it will save endless calls and emails playing "chinese whispers" between you, your PM, and the tennant.
 
thanks for the replies :)

Well after thinking about it for a while I decided to go ahead and get the window lock for the bathroom and the kitchen. It wont cost that much. I was planning to do it in the future anyhow.

The PM said their electrician who installed the hws will have a look at it, and someone will look at the shower head.
 
Hi Kim

The fluctuations in the HWU temperature may be due to the wrong washers in the taps
or the difference in the hot and cold water pressures if the HWU is an instantaneous one.

Cheers

Pete
 
Well after thinking about it for a while I decided to go ahead and get the window lock for the bathroom and the kitchen. It wont cost that much. I was planning to do it in the future anyhow.

The PM said their electrician who installed the hws will have a look at it, and someone will look at the shower head.

Window locks are cheap but are they necessary? Do the kitchen and bathroom windows open to an accessible area, or is it 2 stories up where no one would get in anyhow?

If the shower head needs replcing, just get one of the fixed ones to save you trouble in the future.
 
I read the problem as window "locks" but I think perhaps it is a case of windows not being able to "closed". If so, this needs to be addressed, but I wouldn't bother adding "locks", just catches.
 
Window locks are cheap but are they necessary? Do the kitchen and bathroom windows open to an accessible area, or is it 2 stories up where no one would get in anyhow?

If the shower head needs replcing, just get one of the fixed ones to save you trouble in the future.

The kitchen and bathroom are accessible to the main walkway. It would be more secure with locks.

oh ok i might look into the fixed shower heads.



Wylie
I read the problem as window "locks" but I think perhaps it is a case of windows not being able to "closed". If so, this needs to be addressed, but I wouldn't bother adding "locks", just catches.

Forgot to add after 2nd phone convo with PM
PM said the windows do close but tenant is requesting locks.
 
Does this property have its own HWS, or is it supplied as part of a block of units?
Is it an electric storage type HWS or gas instantaneous, sometimes an instataneous won't heat up as quick as they can be used.

If it has its own HWS and the building is fairly new, it is probably fitted with a tempering valve which keeps the maximum temp lower in bathrooms etc to prevent scolding.

The tenant may be comparing the temps between the kitchen and bathroom which would be at different temps, but it is normal to operate this way.:)

Thats interesting info thanks.

Anyway, it has its own small gas hws. PM's electrician will be looking into it.
Tenant said that the water runs hot then it runs cold



Pete
Hi Kim

The fluctuations in the HWU temperature may be due to the wrong washers in the taps
or the difference in the hot and cold water pressures if the HWU is an instantaneous one.

Cheers

Pete

thanks
 
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Anyway, it has its own small gas hws. PM's electrician will be looking into it.
Tenant said that the water runs hot then it runs cold

Hi Kim, why is the PM sending an electrician to look at a gas HWS?:confused::rolleyes:

You need to keep on top of this PM, they're working for you not the tenant.

Also if they send someone out to fix something, and find it's not broken or is working as it was designed, then the tenant pays for this.

This is very important for you to spell out to the PM, you should not be paying for service calls on a tenants whim or lack of understanding. :)
 
You need to keep on top of this PM, they're working for you not the tenant.

Also if they send someone out to fix something, and find it's not broken or is working as it was designed, then the tenant pays for this.

This is very important for you to spell out to the PM, you should not be paying for service calls on a tenants whim or lack of understanding. :)


thanks for the advice.
 
A water saving showerhead can make instant gas HWSs go 'funny'. You need unrestricted flow. There's probably some wriggle room with the tempering thingy, we had ours set to 50 (which is a bit low) but you can go a little higher before it is illegal. I just didn't want to inadvertantly cook a small child.
 
As Rumpled mentioned, you need full water flow with instant HWS.
With all shower heads sold now needing to be "water efficient" just make sure you take the little washer out that reduces flow and it will work a charm.
 
Regarding the full water flow with water efficient shower heads....

We have water efficient shower heads in both bathrooms. In the shower I use, I sometimes have trouble with the temperature of our instant hot water because I tend to only turn the shower on enough to get a reasonable flow. Hubby and other sons turn it on full bore, which is still I think 7 litres a minute.

If it is someone who is not turning it on full bore, they may have the same problem I have. Sometimes I have to turn the water off and start again with it on a little harder.
 
If it is someone who is not turning it on full bore, they may have the same problem I have. Sometimes I have to turn the water off and start again with it on a little harder.

Hi Wylie,
Is this shower with the new style mixer or seperate taps, and if you have to start again, do you have to turn the hot or cold on harder? Thanks.:)
 
The shower has separate taps, and if the shower goes cold, I turn off both taps and start again and just turn the hot on a little more than I usually do.

It doesn't happen all the time, but I think there must be a point where the instantaneous hot water system decides there is not enough flow to kick in.

My husband likes it turned on full blast (still only 7kl a minute) but I don't like it that "full on".
 
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