Plumber Myrtle Bank, SA 5064

About 3km from our Westbourne Park basePost-war brick and tile suburbs

Myrtle Bank is about 3km from our Westbourne Park base, an easy run for same-day work. The suburb is mostly 1950s and 1960s houses on generous City of Unley blocks, and a growing share of those blocks now carry a newer home or 2 built in the last decade. That transition is where the plumbing sits: original gas heating and gas hot water reaching the end of their service lives in the older houses, and modern dwellings connected back to drainage that was laid for a single post-war home. Marc is a licensed plumber and gas fitter.

Most requested in Myrtle Bank: Gas Fitting · Hot Water · CCTV Drain Inspection

Plumbing in Myrtle Bank

Myrtle Bank has a post-war footprint on unusually generous land. The bulk of the housing went up through the 1950s and 1960s, with the house set forward on the block and a deep back garden behind it, and those proportions are exactly why the suburb is changing. A single original allotment here now regularly carries 2 dwellings and occasionally a small group of them, which means half the plumbing work in the suburb is about old services and the other half is about what has been connected to them since.

The gas side is genuinely distinctive here. Houses of this era were fitted out for gas as it was rolled through the inner suburbs, and plenty still run close to the original arrangement: a gas wall furnace in the lounge, a gas storage unit outside the laundry, and a copper gas line sized when the total appliance load was a fraction of what a modern kitchen plus ducted heating draws. Adding a large cooktop or a bigger heater to that line without checking the sizing is how a household ends up with appliances that will not run properly at the same time. A licensed gas fitter checks the line capacity and the appliance clearances rather than simply connecting whatever was bought.

The infill side produces the other half of the work. When a 1950s house is replaced by 2 dwellings, the drainage frequently is not replaced with it. The new homes connect to a sewer junction sized and graded for the original single house, stormwater runs into a system built for 1 roof and a lawn that has since become a driveway, and the rear dwelling ends up on a long, shallow run underneath a shared slab. None of that is unlawful and all of it produces a property that blocks more often than it should, usually within the first few years.

What we get called out for in Myrtle Bank

Original gas wall furnaces and undersized gas lines

A 1960s wall furnace that still runs is not automatically a problem, and it is not automatically safe either. What matters is the combustion test, the flue condition and whether the line still has capacity now that a modern cooktop and hot water unit share it. Those are measurable things rather than judgement calls, and the answer is sometimes that the appliance is fine and the line is the fault.

External gas hot water units at end of life

Storage units on these houses commonly sit in the original position beside the laundry, and a unit past 10 to 12 years that is leaking from the shell is finished regardless of what else is wrong with it. A unit of the same age with a failed thermocouple, valve or anode is often worth repairing. The distinction is worth making before anyone quotes a replacement.

Rear dwellings on the original sewer junction

A second home on the block usually connects back through the junction that served the original house. That junction was sized and graded for a single household, and the rear dwelling sits at the far end of the longest, shallowest run. When it blocks, the occupants get blamed. The camera usually shows the grade and the run length are doing the work instead.

Stormwater built for 1 roof now serving 2

Replacing a garden with a driveway and a second roof more than doubles the water the original stormwater system has to move, and nothing about that system was upgraded. The surplus surfaces in the yard, backs up at a downpipe or soaks in beside a footing. Establishing the total roof and paved area is what determines whether the existing line has any chance.

Drains damaged during construction next door

Excavators, piling rigs and heavy delivery traffic on a neighbouring build site crack and crush drainage that had been fine for 60 years. A drain that started misbehaving during or shortly after works next door is worth filming promptly, because dated camera footage is what turns a suspicion into something a builder or an insurer will engage with.

What we cover in Myrtle Bank

Gas Fitting: Licensed gas fitting across Adelaide: leak detection and repair, appliance and cooktop installation, heater servicing with carbon monoxide checks, and Certificates of Compliance.
Hot Water: Repairs and replacements for electric, gas, solar and heat pump hot water systems across Adelaide, with a straight answer on whether the unit is worth fixing.
CCTV Drain Inspection: A RIDGID SeeSnake camera and locator find the exact fault in a drain, how far it sits from the house and how deep it is, so the repair is priced on evidence instead of guesswork.
Blocked Drains: Blocked sewer, toilet, sink and stormwater drains cleared across Adelaide with a jetter and an electric machine, then filmed with a CCTV camera so you find out what caused it.
General Plumbing & Maintenance: Everyday plumbing and maintenance across Adelaide by a licensed plumber and gas fitter: taps, toilets, hot water, leaks, drains, gas and renovation rough-in, priced up front.

Around Myrtle Bank

We work right across Myrtle Bank and the streets around Ridge Park, Cross Road, Glen Osmond Road nearby, and the rest of the suburb.

Ridge Park
Cross Road
Glen Osmond Road nearby
The Waite Arboretum at neighbouring Urrbrae
The Urrbrae Wetland

Myrtle Bank plumbing questions

We want to add a large gas cooktop to a 1960s Myrtle Bank house. Is the existing line enough?

Not necessarily, and it is the wrong question to answer after the appliance has been bought. Gas line sizing depends on the total load of every appliance running at once, the length of the run and the number of fittings in it. An original line that comfortably ran a wall furnace and a storage hot water unit can be marginal once a modern cooktop joins them, and the symptom is appliances that underperform when used together rather than an obvious failure. The line gets sized and pressure tested first.

Our 1960s gas wall furnace still works. Should we replace it?

Not on age alone. What decides it is a service and a combustion test: heat exchanger condition, flue integrity, spillage and carbon monoxide readings. A unit that passes all of that and heats the room is doing its job, and replacing it buys efficiency rather than safety. A unit that fails any of them comes out, and there is no negotiating that part. We will tell you which of the 2 you have and give you the readings.

Our block is being split into 2. What should we check on the drainage first?

Get the existing sewer filmed and located before the design is finalised, and specifically before any driveway is poured. What you need to know is the depth and grade of the line where the new dwelling wants to connect, whether the junction has capacity, and whether the existing pipe is already cracked where the new slab is going. All of that is cheap now and expensive once concrete covers it.

Since the neighbours built, our drain keeps blocking. Could construction have caused it?

Yes, and it is common enough to be worth investigating properly. Heavy plant, piling and deep excavation close to a boundary crack and displace drainage that had been sound for decades, and the effect often shows up months after the trucks leave. A camera run with a locator will show whether the defect sits at the boundary and how deep it is. Dated footage and a written report are what a builder or insurer will actually respond to.

How quickly can you get to Myrtle Bank?

Roughly 3km, so it is one of the closer suburbs on our list and same-day is normal for ordinary work. Emergencies are a short trip rather than a cross-town run. You get a text with an arrival time before we set off and the price is discussed before any work starts.