★★★★★
Quoted Mon, installed Fri
“Took the old gas Rinnai out, dropped in a Reclaim heat pump, sorted the VEU rebate so it came straight off the price. Bloke on the phone is the bloke on the tools, refreshing.”
JM
Jess M.Pakenham · heat pump install
The question behind most of our call-outs
Repair it, or replace it?
Ten years is usually where the answer changes. Nobody in this trade wants to say out loud that sometimes the right answer is "fix it and keep going", because there's no invoice in it. So here's the whole argument in public: how long these things actually last, where repair spend stops earning its keep, when we'd tell you to repair instead — and why the VEU rebate happens to be worth the most at exactly the moment your system hits the line.
- 10 yrsWhere hot water tanks stop earning repairs
- 10 yrsWhere a gas heater becomes a safety question
- 12 yrsWhere a refrigerated compressor does
- $120Fixed diagnosis, so you know before you spend
Repair or replace?
Put the number next to the alternative.
Three things and it does the sum we’d do on the phone. Runs in your browser — nothing recorded, nothing sent.
Pick the system, the age and the quoted repair, and the sum appears here.
How long they actually last
Design life, and where we stop recommending you spend.
These aren’t marketing numbers. They’re what the manufacturers quote for design life, and what we see replacing this gear across the corridor every week. “Replace from” is the age past which a significant repair usually costs more per remaining year than a new system does.
| System | Typical life | Replace from | Why that age | What you gain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gas storage hot water | 8–12 years | 10 yrs | The tank is a steel cylinder with a sacrificial anode inside it. Once the anode is spent the tank starts corroding, and there is no repair for a corroded tank. Everything else on the unit is replaceable; the tank is the unit. | A heat pump replacement runs on roughly a quarter to a third of the energy, and it's the single biggest VEU rebate on the list. |
| Electric storage hot water | 8–12 years | 10 yrs | Same steel tank, same anode, same ending. Elements and thermostats are cheap and easy; neither of them saves a tank that has started to go. | The largest running-cost gap of anything we replace. An old electric tank is the appliance the VEU scheme was most obviously written for. |
| Gas continuous flow | 12–20 years | 15 yrs | Better lifespan than a tank because there's no tank to corrode, but the heat exchanger has narrow passages and parts availability tails off past about fifteen years on discontinued models. | Modern units are more efficient and quieter, though the honest answer here is that a healthy continuous-flow unit at twelve years is usually worth keeping. |
| Gas ducted heating | 10–15 years | 10 yrs | This is the one where age is a safety question and not just an economic one. Heat exchangers crack with thermal cycling, a cracked heat exchanger spills carbon monoxide, and carbon monoxide has no smell. Past ten years it goes on the carbon monoxide test list every single service. | A 3-star unit replaced with a 6-star cuts the gas it burns to hold the same house at the same temperature, every winter, for the next fifteen years. |
| Ducted or split reverse cycle | 10–15 years | 12 yrs | Compressors go, and a compressor on a twelve-year-old unit costs a serious fraction of a new system. The bigger issue is refrigerant: older units run R22 or R410A, and R22 in particular is phased out and expensive to source. | Inverter efficiency has moved a long way. A modern unit doing the same job draws materially less power, and the VEU covers reverse-cycle upgrades too. |
| Evaporative cooling | 10–15 years | 12 yrs | Roof-mounted, so it lives its whole life in the weather. Pads, pumps and motors are all replaceable, but once the cabinet itself starts going you're repairing something with a rusting box around it. | Newer units use less water and run quieter. Worth pricing a reverse-cycle changeover at the same time so you're comparing both properly. |
Six signs it's replacement time
You usually know before we tell you.
These are the six that decide it.
01
The repair quote is over about a third of a new one
Standard rule of thumb across the trade, and it holds up. Spend $1,400 on a ten-year-old tank and you've bought maybe two years on a system that owes you nothing. Put that toward a replacement with the rebate applied and you've bought fifteen.
02
It's the second repair in two years
One failure is a component. Two is the system telling you where it is in its life. The second call-out is usually the one where we stop quoting parts and start quoting both options side by side.
03
Rusty water, or water on the floor
On a storage tank this is the end. A weeping tank cannot be repaired and a wet tank gets worse quickly, not slowly. Turn the water off at the isolation valve and ring someone, because it will fail properly at the least convenient moment available.
04
The running costs have crept up and nothing else changed
Efficiency drops as things age — sediment in a tank, a coil that's lost capacity, a heater burning more gas to hold the same temperature. It rarely shows up as a fault. It shows up on the bill.
05
Parts are on back-order
When a part takes three weeks, that isn't just an inconvenience, it's the supply chain telling you the model is being wound down. We'll always tell you when we're chasing a part for a discontinued unit rather than quietly adding days.
06
A gas appliance over ten that hasn't been CO tested
This one isn't economics. A cracked heat exchanger has no smell and no warning, and the test takes minutes with a calibrated analyser. Whatever you decide about replacing it, get it tested.
The other half
When we'd tell you to repair it and keep your money.
This page pushes replacement because most of the time, on most of the systems we're called to, that's the right call and the numbers say so. But a page that only ever pointed one way would be an advertisement, not advice. Here's where we'd tell you to fix it.
Selling someone a system they didn't need is how you get one job instead of a family's worth. We'd genuinely rather have the family.
- It's under about six years old and the fault is a component — an element, a thermostat, a capacitor, a sensor
- A gas heater that won't light, where it's an igniter or a flame sense rod. Both are stocked parts and both are a one-visit fix
- An aircon that isn't cooling because the filters and coil are filthy. That's a service, not a system
- A hot water system with a spent anode but a sound tank — an anode change is cheap and it genuinely buys years
- Anything still inside its manufacturer warranty. Ring the manufacturer before you ring us, and we'll tell you that on the phone for free
Why the timing matters
The rebate is worth most at exactly the moment you hit the line.
The Victorian Energy Upgrades program pays to get old, inefficient appliances out of houses. That's the whole design of it. Which means the appliance the scheme values most is precisely the one you're standing in front of wondering whether to repair — the ten-year-old gas or electric tank, the 3-star ducted heater, the aircon running phased-out refrigerant.
Two things follow from that, and both are worth knowing before you decide. First, your old system does not need to be broken to qualify. The rebate rewards the efficiency improvement, not the failure. Second, the worst time to make this decision is the morning it dies, because you'll take whoever can come today at whatever they charge. Deciding while you still have hot water is how you get a better system for less money.
We apply the rebate at the quote. Not a claim form, not a rebate you chase afterwards, not "you'll get it back later". If an installer quotes you a number and tells you to claim it yourself, that's worth a second look.
How the VEU rebate works →Estimate yours →Need hot water while you decide? →
$2,605up to, owner-occupier, everything stacked
$1,605up to, rentals — no Solar Homes, everything else applies
$400Australian Made bonus, on the brands that qualify
$0for you to chase. We do the paperwork
Straight answers
The questions we get asked on the phone.
How old is too old for a hot water system?
Around ten years for a storage tank, gas or electric. The tank is a steel cylinder protected by a sacrificial anode, and once the anode is spent the steel starts going. Elements, thermostats and valves are all worth fixing on a young tank. None of them help an old one, because it isn't those parts that fail terminally, it's the cylinder.
My ducted heater is 12 years old and still works. Should I replace it?
Get it carbon monoxide tested first, and let the result decide. Heat exchangers crack with thermal cycling and a cracked one spills carbon monoxide with no smell to warn you. If it tests clean and runs well, you can keep going with annual tests. If it doesn't, it's a replacement, and that isn't a sales position, it's the law.
Is it worth regassing an old air conditioner?
Not usually, and here's the honest reason: aircon doesn't consume refrigerant. If it's low, it has leaked, so a regas without finding the leak is paying to fill a bucket with a hole in it. On an R22 unit — anything roughly fifteen years or older — the gas itself is phased out and expensive, which usually settles the argument on its own.
Does the VEU rebate need my old system to be broken?
No, and this is the part most people get wrong. The scheme rewards the efficiency improvement, not the failure. A working but inefficient old gas or electric tank is exactly what it was designed to replace, which means the best time to claim it is before you're standing in a cold shower making a rushed decision.
How much is the VEU rebate worth?
Up to about $2,605 on heat pump hot water for an owner-occupier with everything stacked — VEEC, STC, the $400 Australian Made bonus on eligible brands, and the $1,000 Solar Homes rebate if you qualify. Rentals get up to about $1,605, because Solar Homes is owner-occupier only. We apply it at the quote rather than making you chase it.
What if you tell me to replace it and I don't believe you?
Get another quote, and we mean that. What we'll give you is the repair price and the replacement price on the same page, with the rebate already applied, so you're comparing two real numbers rather than a number and a feeling. If someone else can genuinely repair it for less and make it last, take their quote.
What locals say
Reviews from households across the south-east.
4.9 / 5 on Google
★★★★★
Rebate handled, didn't lift a finger
“The VEU paperwork looked scary online. They filled it all in, I signed once at the quote and once on the day. Rebate was already in the price. Painless.”
LM
Lauren M.Pakenham · heat pump swap
★★★★★
No surprises on the invoice
“Quote number matched the invoice exactly. No 'we hit unexpected wiring' story at the end. Nice change.”
PS
Priya S.Cranbourne · split install
★★★★★
Split install in half a day
“Bedroom Mitsubishi went in before lunch. Neat pipework, brackets straight, temp checked before they left. Would use again for the lounge.”
AP
Alex P.Cranbourne East · split
★★★★★
Quoted Mon, installed Fri
“Took the old gas Rinnai out, dropped in a Reclaim heat pump, sorted the VEU rebate so it came straight off the price. Bloke on the phone is the bloke on the tools, refreshing.”
JM
Jess M.Pakenham · heat pump install
★★★★★
Rebate handled, didn't lift a finger
“The VEU paperwork looked scary online. They filled it all in, I signed once at the quote and once on the day. Rebate was already in the price. Painless.”
LM
Lauren M.Pakenham · heat pump swap
★★★★★
No surprises on the invoice
“Quote number matched the invoice exactly. No 'we hit unexpected wiring' story at the end. Nice change.”
PS
Priya S.Cranbourne · split install
★★★★★
Split install in half a day
“Bedroom Mitsubishi went in before lunch. Neat pipework, brackets straight, temp checked before they left. Would use again for the lounge.”
AP
Alex P.Cranbourne East · split
★★★★★
Family business, feels it
“Answered the phone myself, quoted the job, showed up to install the job. That trail of trust doesn't exist with most of the bigger mobs anymore.”
TH
Tom H.Narre Warren · heat pump
★★★★★
Emergency sorted Sunday
“Hot water died on a Sunday with three kids in the house. Answered the phone, had a temp loaner running by lunch, new iStore in on Tuesday. That's service.”
SK
Sam K.Berwick · emergency hot water
★★★★★
Follow-up call was a surprise
“A week after install they rang to check the heat pump was running quiet and the app was set up. First tradie who's ever followed up after payment cleared.”
ND
Nick D.Beaconsfield · heat pump
★★★★★
Family business, feels it
“Answered the phone myself, quoted the job, showed up to install the job. That trail of trust doesn't exist with most of the bigger mobs anymore.”
TH
Tom H.Narre Warren · heat pump
★★★★★
Emergency sorted Sunday
“Hot water died on a Sunday with three kids in the house. Answered the phone, had a temp loaner running by lunch, new iStore in on Tuesday. That's service.”
SK
Sam K.Berwick · emergency hot water
★★★★★
Follow-up call was a surprise
“A week after install they rang to check the heat pump was running quiet and the app was set up. First tradie who's ever followed up after payment cleared.”
ND
Nick D.Beaconsfield · heat pump
★★★★★
Actually got up in the roof
“Had three quotes for a ducted system. These guys were the only ones who actually crawled into the roof. Middle of the pack on price but installed cleaner than the others would have.”
DR
Dean R.Officer · ducted retrofit
★★★★★
Cleaned up like nothing happened
“Full ducted retrofit over two days. When they left the roof cavity was tidier than they found it and the driveway had been swept. Small thing but it matters.”
BR
Bianca R.Berwick · ducted install
★★★★★
Explained everything
“Walked me through the Milieu tablet, showed the wife how to use it, showed us the compliance cert. Ten minutes of teaching that other installers just skip.”
MT
Marcus T.Officer · ducted aircon
★★★★★
Actually got up in the roof
“Had three quotes for a ducted system. These guys were the only ones who actually crawled into the roof. Middle of the pack on price but installed cleaner than the others would have.”
DR
Dean R.Officer · ducted retrofit
★★★★★
Cleaned up like nothing happened
“Full ducted retrofit over two days. When they left the roof cavity was tidier than they found it and the driveway had been swept. Small thing but it matters.”
BR
Bianca R.Berwick · ducted install
★★★★★
Explained everything
“Walked me through the Milieu tablet, showed the wife how to use it, showed us the compliance cert. Ten minutes of teaching that other installers just skip.”
MT
Marcus T.Officer · ducted aircon
Both numbers, on one page, with the rebate already in them.
Tell us what you've got and roughly how old it is. We'll come back with what the repair costs, what the replacement costs after the rebate, and which one we'd do if it were our house. If that's the repair, we'll say so.