24 hour plumbing in Queanbeyan, NSW
Queanbeyan is a NSW town that predates Canberra, with a heritage main street on Monaro Street, cottages and unit blocks on the river flats and post-war suburbs climbing the slopes either side. Different state, different licence, different utility, and the oldest pipes in the whole service area.
What usually goes wrong in Queanbeyan
- Galvanised steel water pipe rusted from the inside, bursting at threaded joints
- Earthenware sewers on river silt with open joints and root intrusion
- Stormwater and floor wastes backing up in the low streets when the river rises
- Shared risers and old storage hot water in 1960s and 70s unit blocks
- Grease and sanitary blockages under the Monaro Street shops and cafes
Local notes from the plumbers
Queanbeyan is the oldest town in the service area, and the plumbing near the river dates from every decade since the 1900s. The cottages on the streets between Monaro Street and the Queanbeyan River still carry galvanised steel water pipe that has rusted from the inside, and earthenware sewers laid on river silt that has never stopped moving. The river flooded badly in December 2010 and again in March 2012, and the low streets around Riverside Plaza and Queen Elizabeth II Park still show the effects: silt in stormwater lines, sewer joints that were pushed open by the water and now let roots in, and floor wastes in ground-floor units that back up whenever the river rises. Unit blocks from the 1960s and 70s add shared risers and old storage hot water. The important difference from across the border is that Queanbeyan is in New South Wales: the plumber must hold a NSW Fair Trading licence, the water and sewer mains are QPRC's rather than Icon Water's, and a broken main in the street is Council's job, not the ACT's.
Housing in Queanbeyan
Weatherboard and brick cottages from the 1900s to the 1950s on the flat streets near the river, 1960s and 70s walk-up unit blocks, post-war homes on the slopes, and newer apartments and townhouses around Monaro Street and Riverside Plaza.