Geyser replacement in a flat roof

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newby_investor

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PSA to everyone: Murphy is watching and taking notes.

So I replaced my asbestos roof at great expense earlier this year. It's new and shiny. But it's rather flat.

I probably should have used the opportunity to get a good look at the geyser while the roof was open, but I didn't, and now I'm stuck.

I've now got a geyser that's leaking, and it needs to be replaced. The inspector from the insurance kind of shrugged his shoulders. I'm not sure how to go about things now. The insurer seems to want to just pay me about R11k and make it my problem.

I figure that my options are:
- Pull open the roof again, probably at considerable expense.
- Pull out the ceiling (fortunately it's a smallish room so it should be doable) and replace the geyser that way.
- Something else, like an outside-mounted geyser, or one with solar, or something.

The guy told me that modern standards want something to stick up 30cm above the level of the geyser (pressure release or something?), and there's not enough space inside my flat roof to be able to do that. So even if I could stomach the cost of ripping open the roof or replacing the ceiling, I may not find a plumber that's willing to install the geyser anyway.

Has anyone been through this kind of thing before? My neighbours have a geyser hanging off the side of their house which I think looks ugly. In any case it wouldn't really be an option for me since my house has a different design to theirs which probably wouldn't be amenable to hanging a geyser on the side of the wall.

My current inclination is to go for something like this, where the geyser itself is outside and the 30cm clearance thing isn't an issue:
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Not ideal, I know, the prevailing wisdom here is to rather dedicate the roof space to panels, but I'm in the situation where I may not have a choice.
 
You can still keep the roof space for panels and simply mount the geyser on an outside wall.
I see you say your house isn't ideal for that but I'm pretty sure you'd be able to find a spot. And if it's too "ugly" you can always put a little enclosure around it. It'll be cheaper than redoing the ceiling.
 
Speedster said:
You can still keep the roof space for panels and simply mount the geyser on an outside wall.
Click to expand...
I mean I could but there's not really a good place for this where it's not going to look ugly. So I'd prefer to avoid that if possible.

Thinking about that though, surely having the geyser outside is not great from an insulation point of view? Or are modern geysers that well insulated that it doesn't really matter?
 
newby_investor said:
I mean I could but there's not really a good place for this where it's not going to look ugly. So I'd prefer to avoid that if possible.

Thinking about that though, surely having the geyser outside is not great from an insulation point of view? Or are modern geysers that well insulated that it doesn't really matter?
Click to expand...
They're insulated well enough to not be an issue. Also, geyser access is much easier when it is not in a roof, and the danger of water damage if it bursts is basically nil.
 
I'd pull open the ceiling and then when replacing it make sure you create access to get to easily in future by putting in a removable panel.
 
newby_investor said:
I mean I could but there's not really a good place for this where it's not going to look ugly. So I'd prefer to avoid that if possible.

Thinking about that though, surely having the geyser outside is not great from an insulation point of view? Or are modern geysers that well insulated that it doesn't really matter?
Click to expand...
It would lose a bit to the elements being outdoors, you'll just have to heat it a bit longer and/or more frequently. The evac geyser you posted would be outdoors anyway would it not?
 
Removing tiles or lifting roof sheets is easy as pie. Any qualified installer can do that. And they'll refit them without you knowing it was done.
The pressure release valve you're referring to doesn't have to be fitted to an interior electrical geyser.

Or a gas geyser as alternative perhaps?
 
newby_investor said:
I mean I could but there's not really a good place for this where it's not going to look ugly. So I'd prefer to avoid that if possible.

Thinking about that though, surely having the geyser outside is not great from an insulation point of view? Or are modern geysers that well insulated that it doesn't really matter?
Click to expand...
Geyser on roof. Easy to add some solar later. If you're worried about insulation, there are remedies.
 
zeb said:
Removing tiles or lifting roof sheets is easy as pie. Any qualified installer can do that. And they'll refit them without you knowing it was done.
The pressure release valve you're referring to doesn't have to be fitted to an interior electrical geyser.

Or a gas geyser as alternative perhaps?
Click to expand...
The roof is flat, plywood with bitumen torch waterproofing over it. Lifting the sheets isn't going to be so easy.

I'll have to double-check with an installer I guess. The inspector that my insurer assigned said that would be an issue, so I took him at his word.
 
Speedster said:
They're insulated well enough to not be an issue.
Click to expand...

Mike Hoxbig said:
It would lose a bit to the elements being outdoors, you'll just have to heat it a bit longer and/or more frequently. The evac geyser you posted would be outdoors anyway would it not?
Click to expand...

True, maybe it wouldn't end up being that much of an issue.

Speedster said:
Also, geyser access is much easier when it is not in a roof, and the danger of water damage if it bursts is basically nil.
Click to expand...
I didn't think of this, that's a fair point. In contrast with my current situation where it would be the bathroom and all the carpets all the way downstairs.
 
Speedster said:
The bad news is you're still going to have to find access to the current geyser to reroute the plumbing.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the access panel is there, so you can get in. I managed to find the stop-cock yesterday to turn off the water supply to the geyser. But getting it out would be a large pain.
 
newby_investor said:
Yeah, the access panel is there, so you can get in. I managed to find the stop-cock yesterday to turn off the water supply to the geyser. But getting it out would be a large pain.
Click to expand...
You don't have to take it out... unless its a copper geyser and in that case you can fund this entire venture with the proceeds of the sale.

I say put a new solar geyser on the roof.
 
Nerfherder said:
You don't have to take it out... unless its a copper geyser and in that case you can fund this entire venture with the proceeds of the sale.

I say put a new solar geyser on the roof.
Click to expand...
Are you being facetious or does such a thing exist? I've never heard of a copper geyser.

The geyser is an off-white colour, definitely not copper. It's not ancient but not too new either. Old enough to have rusted (almost) through on the bottom. That being said, rust suggests it's definitely not copper.

I'm currently 90% headed towards the solar geyser option, I just need to make sure that there will still be enough space on my roof for the panels which are going to come later.
 
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