A filter on the cold feed into your hot water system, so sediment stops at a cartridge instead of inside a four-thousand-dollar appliance.
Where it goes: On the cold water line feeding your hot water system
None of this is about how the water tastes. It is about what sediment does once it is inside the most expensive appliance in the house.
Storage tank. Whatever comes down the main ends up in the bottom of the tank, because that is where gravity puts it. It does not leave again. A cartridge on the inlet is the only thing between the street and the floor of your tank.
What’s actually in Melbourne water, and what a filter does about it →
Every one of these is sediment protection on the cold feed. They differ on how much cartridge stands between the street and your hot water system.
On clean Melbourne mains a single housing is usually the whole answer. The twin and triple builds earn their extra cartridges where the supply actually carries the sediment to load them.
The standard hot water protector
Gritty supplies — coarse then fine
Tank, bore and the heaviest sediment
Priced at quote, not on the page. What it costs depends on where the main comes in and what the pipework needs, and a “from” figure with none of that behind it is bait.
Tell us the symptom — taste, smell, grit, dry skin, tank water — and we'll tell you which fitting addresses it. Including when the answer is a cheaper one.
One cartridge, changed at the same visit as your annual hot water or gas service so it doesn't become its own call-out. That's the whole maintenance story.
Taste, smell, grit, cloudy water, dry skin, or just a general feeling that you'd rather not drink it straight. What you've noticed is the most useful diagnostic there is, and it usually points straight at which of the three is right.
~ 5 minMains or tank, what the pressure is doing, where the main comes in, and whether the cupboard under the sink has any room in it. On tank water we want to know about the roof and the tank as well, because that changes whether UV is warranted.
at the quoteIncluding when the answer is a cheaper unit than you asked about, or nothing at all. If your complaint is drinking water and you were about to buy whole-home filtration, we'd rather tell you that than take the bigger job.
within 12 hrsNot a handyman with a spanner. Filtration ties into your potable water supply, which means backflow protection and doing it to the standard. Same six-year workmanship warranty as anything else we fit.
install dayOn handover, on your unit, with you holding it. It's a ten-minute job once a year and there is no reason you should be paying anyone to come out and do it.
on handoverWe haven’t put a price on this page yet, deliberately. What the right unit costs depends on your water, your pressure and where it physically has to go, and a “from $X” with none of that behind it is bait.
Send the symptom and you’ll get a real figure with the reasoning attached — including the times the honest answer is a cheaper unit than the one you asked about.
It removes the sediment that would otherwise end up in the bottom of the tank or in the heat exchanger, and sediment is one of the things that shortens their lives. It is not a warranty extension and we won't dress it up as one. It is a small, cheap thing that removes one of the ways these systems die early.
That is the sensible time to do it. The cold line is already disconnected, so the labour is minimal, and you get the protection from day one rather than after the first few years of sediment have already gone through. Ask us to include it in the quote and you'll see exactly what it adds.
Sometimes, but usually not, and it is worth knowing why. A rotten-egg smell on the hot side only is normally the sacrificial anode reacting in the tank, and the answer is an anode change, not a filter. We'd rather diagnose that properly than sell you a filter that doesn't fix it.
Yes, and continuous flow is arguably where it matters most. The passages in a continuous-flow heat exchanger are narrow, so sediment and scale have a much smaller margin before they cause a problem. The filter goes on the cold inlet the same way.
No. If the whole house is already filtered on the main, the hot water system is downstream of that and already protected. This one is for houses that aren't doing whole-home, or where the hot water system sits on a separate run.
“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.”
“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.”
“Quote number matched the invoice exactly. No 'we hit unexpected wiring' story at the end. Nice change.”
“Bedroom Mitsubishi went in before lunch. Neat pipework, brackets straight, temp checked before they left. Would use again for the lounge.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Quote number matched the invoice exactly. No 'we hit unexpected wiring' story at the end. Nice change.”
“Bedroom Mitsubishi went in before lunch. Neat pipework, brackets straight, temp checked before they left. Would use again for the lounge.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
