Geyser Leaking In Kempton Park: Top, Bottom Or Overflow Pipe, And How Urgent It Is

When a geyser is leaking, where the water shows up is the best clue to what has failed and how fast to act. This guide explains what you are seeing; the valves and the cylinder themselves are a job for a plumber in Kempton Park.

A leaking geyser: what to do in the first hour

If water is coming through the ceiling, running from the drip-tray pipe or steaming from an overflow pipe:

1. Switch the geyser off at the DB. It has its own breaker or isolator, usually labelled. Water and the element's wiring sit close together, so the power goes first.
2. Close the cold supply isolating valve. Kwikot describes it as the valve that "lets you shut off the water supply to the geyser without cutting water to the rest of the house". If it is out of reach or stuck, close the property's main isolating valve. Ekurhuleni's by-laws place that within 1.5 metres inside the boundary where the meter stands outside.
3. Open a hot tap. With the supply closed, this lets the pressure out of the cylinder, so less water escapes through the leak.
4. Protect the ceiling and the room below. Put buckets under the drips and move appliances and furniture away. Discovery's guide warns that the water is "extremely hot", and advises against assessing roof or ceiling damage yourself.

A geyser that is switched off and isolated can wait safely for a plumber.

Geyser leaking: the leak points at a glance

Geyser leaking from the overflow pipe outside

On an outside wall or under the roof edge there may be up to three pipes from the geyser. Kwikot's installation rules pipe the drip tray to the outside, with the safety valve and expansion relief valve overflows "separately piped to the exterior of the building". Ekurhuleni's by-laws require a water heater's overflow and expansion pipes to discharge where the water "will be readily visible", so that somebody notices.

The pressure control valve on the cold supply regulates the pressure going in and, Kwikot says, "allows for natural expansion when the geyser is heating". The temperature and pressure (T&P) valve on the cylinder "releases water if the temperature or pressure inside the geyser exceeds safe levels". What the pipe does tells you which one is at work:

• A trickle while the geyser heats, then nothing. That is expansion. Kwikot calls "a small amount of discharge when the geyser heats up" normal.
• A steady drip all day, hot water used or not. A valve is letting water by, usually the pressure control valve or its expansion valve. In Kwikot's words, "a constant heavy flow is not" normal "and signals a valve problem". Have it seen within days.
• Hot water or steam. The T&P valve is releasing an overheated cylinder, often because the thermostat has stopped switching the element off. It is a warning sign, not a drip: switch off at the DB now.

Never cap or block an overflow pipe to stop a drip. It is the outlet the safety valves depend on.

Geyser leaking into the drip tray, or through the ceiling

The drip tray "catches any water from leaks or condensation", as Kwikot puts it, and sends it outside through its own pipe, which the SANS 10254 compliance tables require to "discharge to outside of building, easily visible". That pipe should be dry almost all the time. When it runs, something above the tray is leaking: a fitting, a valve body or the cylinder. Treat it as urgent.

A stain on the ceiling under the geyser means the water is missing that pipe. The leak may be outrunning it, the pipe may be blocked, the tray may be cracked or missing, or the leak may be outside the tray. Discovery counts sudden water patches on the ceiling among the signs of a coming burst, so keep people out from under a sagging patch.

Geyser leaking from the top

The top and ends of the cylinder carry the inlet and outlet fittings, the T&P valve and the vacuum breakers that a compliant installation has on both the hot and cold pipes. Their water runs down the cylinder into the tray, so a top leak often shows first as a wet tray. Most are repairs: a fitting resealed or a valve replaced. A slow weep can wait for a booked visit, but water running towards the element cover, where the electrics are, means switching off at the DB until it has been checked.

Geyser leaking from the bottom

A steel geyser has a sacrificial anode that corrodes so the tank does not. Once the anode is exhausted, the Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa explains, "the mild acid solution will then attack the tank", and "in time corrosion results in a pin prick leak and as the geyser cannot be repaired, it needs to be replaced." Rusty or brown hot water is one of the warning signs in Discovery's list.

Not every wet bottom is the tank, though:

• Water from higher up runs down the outside and drips off the lowest point, so it looks like a bottom leak.
• The element seal, a gasket behind the cover plate, can weep right beside the electrical connections. Keep the power off.
• A drain cock, where one is fitted, can drip at its seat.

Drying the cylinder and watching where the first water forms tells these apart. Only a leak through the cylinder wall means a new geyser.

Geyser leaking after the water comes back on

Kempton Park has had four long Rand Water shutdowns in a year. In July 2025 a 50-hour shutdown reached suburbs from Glen Marais and Birchleigh North to Norkem Park and Van Riebeeck Park, and the Kempton Express reported that full restoration "may take up to eight days". From 13 to 15 December 2025, Isando, Spartan, Bonaero Park, Pomona and Rhodesfield were off for 48 hours, and the City warned of "up to two weeks" before pressure and supply returned to normal. A 96-hour shutdown followed from 29 May 2026, and another from 17 to 19 July, each with up to two weeks' recovery in high-lying areas.

A drained network refills with air as well as water, and pressure comes back in surges. IntegriSure, an insurance broker, warns that "excessive pressure when water supply returns can damage water pipes", and links water cuts to a higher "likelihood of geyser failure". The part of a geyser built to take surges is the pressure control valve, which Kwikot says protects it "from pressure surges".

In plumbing terms, that makes the cold-side valves the likeliest place for a leak to start after a shutdown: a valve that sealed before lets water by afterwards, and an overflow pipe that was dry starts to run. For the two weeks the City allows for pressure to settle, glance at the overflow pipes and the ceiling under the geyser each day. A new drip that does not stop is a valve to have checked.

A solar geyser leaking on the roof

On a solar installation the leak can start on the roof. OR Tambo International, which lies within Kempton Park, has recorded −8.2 °C in June, and Kwikot warns that "exposed pipes and certain solar collectors can freeze on cold nights, and freezing water expands with enough force to crack pipes and panels." Water from a cracked collector or roof pipe can come in at a roof entry and stain a ceiling away from the tank. After a cold snap, ask for the collector and its roof pipework to be checked as well as the tank. Which system suits a roof that sees frost is covered under solar geyser installation in Kempton Park.

What a plumber checks on a leaking geyser

A leak visit should find the source before anything is replaced:

• Where the water starts, with the power off and the cylinder dried, so a dripping fitting is not mistaken for a leaking tank.
• The incoming pressure, on a gauge. The SANS 10254 tables allow the pressure control valve's rating to be lower than the geyser's, "but shall never exceed it".
• Each valve, for letting by or failing to seal, and the thermostat if the T&P valve has been releasing hot water.
• The tray and its pipe: whole, level, clear and ending outside.
• The cylinder: rust outside, rust in the hot water, and the rating plate.

Finding the failed part first is what decides whether a geyser repair in Kempton Park means a valve, a fitting or a new geyser.

Geyser leaking: when it is a repair and when it is a new geyser

Most leak points end in a repair. The pressure control, expansion and T&P valves and the vacuum breakers each wear out and can be replaced on their own, and fittings, element seals and drip trays can be put right. None of that needs a new geyser.

A cylinder that leaks through its own wall cannot be patched, and one that is rusting through, with brown water at the hot taps, is often heading the same way. When a new geyser is the answer, the page on geyser installation in Kempton Park sets out what a compliant installation includes. If your home is insured, your insurer will have its own steps for a replacement.

Geyser leaking: questions from Kempton Park homes

Written by The Kempton Park Plumbers for homes across Kempton Park, from Birchleigh North to Bonaero Park. This is general guidance: a plumber on site can tell you what applies to your geyser.