Geyser Safety
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Geysers can be dangerous if not installed correctly.Geysers (hot water heaters) are dangerous to life and limb if not correctly installed and maintained. Every year a number of people in South Africa get killed or injured by exploding geysers. The energy contained within an overheated geyser is said to be the equivalent of a half a kilo of TNT. There are two critical factors that need to be controlled in a geyser - the pressure and the temperature. If either get out of control you have a big problem. If both get out of control you have an explosion! If the thermostat fails and allows the temperature to go way beyond 70 Degrees C, the pressure will increase until the safety valve releases - either because of too much heat or too much pressure. If this and the pressure control valves fail to release, the pressure will continue to build until the tank ruptures. The increased pressure would have raised the boiling point of the water to say 120 Degs C! This means that as the pressure is released the water vapourises in an instant. As the water turns to steam it expands 1500 times. So the 150 liters of water now needs 225000 liters of space! Bye bye roof, walls, ceilings and people that are in the vicinity. Our experience is that more than 50% of geyser installations are not to the SANS 10254 specification and of those around 10% are really very dangerous. We have also come across a number of installations that we will not even try to fix - a new geyser is required. Remember: a geyser is a small pressure vessel! Your family lives around the geyser - get a plumber to confirm that it is correctly installed. Have a look at the regulations on the IOPSA wesite. Have a look at Geyser installation for an overview of a typical geyser installation. Blockbuster Drain Cleaning - The DRAIN BRAINS
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