Boilers and water heaters in Calahonda and Mijas

Why water heaters fail faster here

The water on this coast is hard. That is not a sales line. It is the reason so much of what we get called to comes back to the same thing.

Inside an electric water heater, the element sits in the water. Calcium comes out of the water as it heats and coats the element in a crust. That crust insulates it, so the element draws more current to produce the same heat, and eventually it fails. In soft water that takes fifteen years. Here it takes five to eight.

The second thing that fails is the tank itself. Once the glass lining is compromised the steel corrodes from the inside, and no repair will help.

How we tell them apart

Element failure: no hot water at all, but the unit is dry, the pressure relief valve is fine, and the electrical trip has not gone. Usually repairable, usually same visit.

Thermostat failure: water is warm but never hot, or it is scalding and intermittent. Cheap to fix.

Corrosion: rusty water from the hot tap, a damp patch under the unit, or a tank that weeps. Not worth repairing, and we will tell you so rather than take the money.

What we fit

What we fit is electric, and Ariston above all, because that is what is in the apartments here. Send us a photo of the rating plate before you book and we will confirm we can work on it and what the likely fix is.

We do not touch gas. Not because we cannot, but because we are not qualified to, and a gas appliance is not a place to find out.

The August problem

Every August the pressure drops in the urbanisations above the coast road, because everyone fills a pool or a tank at the same moment. A water heater that has been fine all year can start tripping on the low pressure switch. If your hot water gets unreliable in August and settles down in October, that is the reason, and it is worth knowing before you spend money on a replacement you did not need.

Coverage

Calahonda, Riviera del Sol, Miraflores, Cabopino, La Cala de Mijas, La Cala Golf, Elviria, Las Chapas and Torrenueva: anything within about 10 km of Calahonda.