Rainwater tanks, pressure pumps and farm water lines

Water from the roof

Outside town, most homes rely on rainwater collected from the roof and stored in tanks, sometimes topped up from a dam or carted water. In town, tanks are common for gardens and toilet flushing. Either way, the plumbing needs to be right for the water to be reliable and safe.

Pressure pumps

When the pump stops, the house is dry. Common faults are failed pressure switches, worn seals, loss of prime, burnt-out motors and electronic controllers that fail after a storm. We repair what can be repaired and replace pumps with models sized to the house, its fixtures and the distance and height from the tank.

Tank plumbing

Inlets with leaf diverters and first-flush devices keep debris and the dirtiest water out. Overflows need to go to a lawful point, not into a neighbour's yard or against a house slab. Outlets need a valve so the tank can be isolated. Tanks topped up from mains in town need an approved backflow device and a switching arrangement.

Water quality

Filters and UV units can improve the quality of rainwater used for drinking. Gutters, tank inlets and the tank itself need cleaning from time to time. We can plumb in filtration and advise on maintenance.

Farm water lines

Poly lines run from tanks and dams to houses, sheds, troughs and gardens, often for long distances. We repair leaks, replace old lines, install valves to isolate sections and size pipes so troughs fill properly at the far end.

Pumps for sheds and gardens

Transfer pumps move water between tanks, from dams to tanks, or out to gardens. We install and repair those too.

Leongatha pipes, hill-country clay and South Gippsland Water

Leongatha sits on the rolling dairy country between the Strzelecki Ranges and the Tarwin River flats, and the ground under most of the town is heavy clay that goes greasy in a wet winter and hard and cracked by late summer. That seasonal swelling and shrinking is what pulls apart rigid earthenware sewer joints, lets tree roots into old lines and tips stormwater pits out of level. The older streets around the town centre, Bair Street and the hospital precinct still have plenty of houses with galvanised or copper water services and clay sewer branches, while the newer estates on the edges of town were plumbed in PVC and cross-linked polyethylene.

South Gippsland Water owns the mains, the water meter and the sewer up to each property's connection point. Everything on your side of that point belongs to the owner, must be worked on by a licensed plumber, and needs a compliance certificate where the Victorian rules call for one. Outside the sewered area, on farms and lifestyle blocks, homes run on rainwater tanks, pressure pumps, septic systems and bottled LPG, all of which we service. When a fault is on the authority's side, we tell them and show them the evidence.

How a Leongatha plumbing job gets priced

For a straightforward repair, the plumber who turns up looks at the fault, tells you what has failed and what the fix involves, and gives you the figure there and then. Nothing is started until you agree. Larger jobs, such as replacing a hot water unit, digging up a broken sewer, re-running a farm water line or plumbing a renovation, get a written quote by email after the inspection. That quote names the parts by make and model, splits the labour into stages, says who handles excavation and reinstatement, and lists the compliance certificate and warranties that go with the work.

There are no hourly rates or call-out figures on this website, on purpose. One Leongatha drain clears in a quarter of an hour; the next turns out to be a cracked earthenware joint full of roots under a concrete path. One hot water swap is like for like; the next needs a bigger electrical circuit, a new tempering valve or a different spot for a heat pump. Looking first and pricing second is the only honest way to do it.