Updated October 2026
Edgeworth grew as a coal town and still keeps genuine miners' cottages alongside post-war fibro and later infill. Lake Macquarie Hot Water connects you with licensed hot water plumbers who service Edgeworth.
Old houses, old systems
This is some of the oldest housing stock in the city, and old stock means hot water systems that have been replaced more than once with whatever was cheapest at the time. The current unit is frequently a storage tank fitted during a renovation and now well past the eight to twelve years a cylinder is designed for.
The practical issues are access and fuel. Older cottages have tanks wedged into laundries, back verandahs and under-house spaces where there is barely room to work, which changes the labour on a swap. On fuel, some properties in Lake Macquarie run on bottled LPG rather than a natural gas main, so check availability at your address before you price a gas system. Natural gas is not available everywhere in Lake Macquarie and we will not guess at your street.
Common hot water calls in Edgeworth
- Storage tanks well past the end of their working life
- Tanks wedged into tight laundries and under-house spaces
- Failed elements, thermostats and pilot assemblies
- Leaking cylinders in older cottages
- LPG systems on properties that are not on a natural gas main
Repair, replace or upgrade
A part is a repair and a leaking cylinder is a replacement. A like-for-like electric swap is the cheapest answer in an old cottage. If the property is on bottles, a continuous flow unit running on LPG is a real option, and so is a heat pump, which sidesteps the fuel question entirely and attracts the scheme certificates.
What it costs in Edgeworth
Typical ranges, ex GST: repairs $150 to $600, electric storage from $800 to $2,500 installed, gas and continuous flow $1,200 to $3,500, heat pumps $3,000 to $6,000 before certificates. In an old cottage, access to the existing unit is the variable most likely to move the labour, so describe it when you book.
Frequently asked questions
The tank is in a tiny laundry with no room. Is that a problem?
It is a cost and a planning question rather than a stopper. The plumber needs to get the old cylinder out and the new one in, and sometimes the sensible answer is to move the system outside or to a wall-mounted unit instead. Ask for both options to be priced.
We are on bottled gas. Can we still have continuous flow?
Yes. Continuous flow units run on LPG as well as natural gas. Running costs are higher on bottles, so it is worth putting an LPG quote beside a heat pump quote before you decide.
Is there natural gas in my street?
Check availability at your address with your energy retailer or the gas network. Natural gas is not available everywhere in Lake Macquarie and we do not publish a map of the network, because we have not verified one.