Geyser Problems: What to Report

A geyser is a tank of hot water sitting above a student house. When it fails it can scald, flood a ceiling, or quietly waste a month of municipal water. ManjeProp wants a ticket that says what you can see and hear from the floor. We do not want a tenant on a roof with a shifting spanner.

This is a reporting guide. It is not a repair manual.

Symptoms that mean you should send a ticket today

No hot water in a house that usually has it
Water far hotter than usual, steam, or a tap that spits
Overflow dripping hard outside when nobody is using hot water
Damp or a brown mark on the ceiling under the tank
A new hiss, knock or drip from the geyser cupboard
Water at an electrical fitting near the geyser
The isolator or a switch on the wall is too hot to touch — do not keep testing it

If water is near electrics, or the ceiling is bowing, treat it as Emergency: leave the wet room if you can, do not open covers, phone +27 60 313 6961, mark Report a fault as Emergency. If people are hurt or at immediate risk, emergency services first.

What you may do from the floor

If a tap is running, close it. If there is a drip you can reach, put a bucket under it. If it is safe and obvious, switch the geyser off at the wall isolator — the switch on the wall, not a cover you remove. Photograph the overflow, the ceiling stain, the isolator from a distance.

Write whether the problem started after load-shedding, after a water interruption, or after everyone showered at once. Shared houses hide simple stories.

Do not open the geyser cover. Do not drain the tank. Do not “test” an element. Do not climb into the roof. Do not stand on a toilet to push a hatch.

What to write so the right person arrives

Property, which bathroom or kitchen has no hot water, whether cold water still runs, whether the overflow is dripping now, whether the ceiling is wet, whether you switched the wall isolator off. Photos: overflow pipe, stain, bucket, isolator.

Category: Water / leak if it is leaking; Appliance or Electricity if it is dead without a leak — pick the one that matches the main risk. If you are unsure, Water / leak plus a sentence about power is fine.

A plumber and an electrician are different people. A good description saves the second call-out.

After an outage

When power or water returns, a tank can behave badly. Listen once. Look at the ceiling under the tank. Look at the overflow from the ground. A short drip after a refill can be ordinary. A steady stream an hour later is not.

If the house has no water in the street, the geyser is not the first suspect. If the street has water and only hot is missing, say that.

Shared mornings

A small tank and five showers will produce lukewarm water at 07:10. That may be capacity, not a failed element. If there is no hot water at 21:00 after a quiet day, that is a ticket. Write the times. Do not accuse a housemate on the form. Staff can see a pattern across tickets.

Staff and the repair log

A geyser that is replaced or repaired is a completed repair with a photo of the finished installation and the contractor invoice — not a photo of the tenant’s ID. If a drip tray or overflow was added, note it. The next failure should sit on that history.

Do not close “no hot water” because someone had a warm shower once. Confirm. Log.

Do not advertise “new geyser” on a listing unless the work was done and you will stand in the passage and say so.

If a drip tray or overflow was added, the next tenant should not discover it as a surprise stain. Incoming photos of the ceiling under the tank belong in the file.

A geyser is not a mystery if you report what you can see without climbing. Send that. If you can hear water in a roof void and you cannot see a stain yet, still send the ticket with “sound only, no climb.” That sentence is enough to get a person with a ladder, not you.

Report a fault · +27 60 313 6961 · viewing questions on properties.