This case brings us to 368 Thomson, a condominium along Thomson Road in the central Novena district, bordering the Balestier area. The homeowner contacted Homeone when their gas water heater — which had been performing poorly for some time — suddenly stopped working altogether.
368 Thomson was completed in 2014, which put the original heater at around 12 years of service: well past the typical lifespan of a gas water heater. And in this case, the heater had not gone quietly.
Old gas heater:
New gas heater:
The area surrounding the heater told the story before we even opened the casing. Visible leak staining had spread around the unit — clear evidence of long-running internal water leakage.
Inside, the water pipes within the heater were corroded throughout. Worse, the escaping water had been dripping onto the components below for long enough that the gas pipe union underneath the heater was seriously corroded as well.
A corroded water pipe wastes water. A corroded gas union is a different category of problem — it is a potential gas leak point sitting inside your home. This is exactly why our replacement scope treats the gas connection as seriously as the heater itself.
The old unit was a preheat-type heater with four water pipe connections, including the heating loop return piping that a preheat system requires. For the replacement, the homeowner decided they did not need the preheat function, and chose the Macro MA-20WOD — the non-preheat version of the same heater family.
Switching from a preheat to a non-preheat model is not simply a swap. The redundant heating loop return piping cannot just be left open — we properly terminated and sealed it as part of the installation, leaving a clean two-pipe (cold in, hot out) configuration matched to the new heater.
Wondering what the preheat function actually does, and whether your home needs it? We explain it in our SkyPark Residences case study.
Many older gas water heater installations connect the gas supply through a threaded union fitting — and this case shows exactly why we no longer trust them. The union here sat directly beneath a leaking heater. Water dripping onto the fitting broke down the protective zinc layer of the galvanised iron, and the union corroded severely — turning a water problem into a potential gas leak point.
Corrosion is not the only way a union fails. Wear from repeated disassembly over its 10–20 year life, misalignment stress in the pipework, and incorrect sealant on the mating faces can all cause a union to leak — and in our inspections, including at gas meters, we have repeatedly found gas leaks at the union.
The conclusion we have drawn from years of inspections is simple: the solution is not a better union — the solution is no union. During replacement, we remove the gas pipe union entirely and replace that section with a new gas valve and direct piping, eliminating the leak point instead of renewing it.
The old unit was a preheat-type heater with four water pipe connections, including the heating loop return piping that a preheat system requires. For the replacement, the homeowner decided they did not need the preheat function, and chose the Macro MA-20WOD — the non-preheat version of the same heater family.
Switching from a preheat to a non-preheat model is not simply a swap. The redundant heating loop return piping cannot just be left open — we properly terminated and sealed it as part of the installation, leaving a clean two-pipe (cold in, hot out) configuration matched to the new heater.
Wondering what the preheat function actually does, and whether your home needs it? We explain it in our SkyPark Residences case study.
Before starting work, we walked the customer through exactly what a proper gas water heater replacement involves. A safe installation is never just “swap the box on the wall”. Our scope covered:
The Certificate of Gas Safety is the document that confirms the gas installation has been tested and certified safe by a licensed gas service worker — we have covered what it is and why it matters in detail elsewhere on our website.
Once installation was complete, we ran a temperature test to confirm the heater was delivering hot water correctly and functioning as intended. We finished with full housekeeping of the work area — the customer’s home was left the way we found it, minus one dangerous heater.
Total time on site: approximately 3.5 to 4 hours.
Two lessons from this 368 Thomson case:
Water leaks and gas safety are connected. A leaking heater is not just a plumbing problem — this unit’s water leak corroded the gas union directly beneath it. If you see staining, rust streaks or dampness around your gas water heater, have it assessed before a water problem becomes a gas problem.
Do not wait for total failure. This heater gave warning signs — weak performance, visible leakage — before it died completely and left the household without hot water. A heater past 10 years of age showing any of these signs is telling you its time is up.
Homeone provides site assessments and licensed gas water heater replacement across Novena, Balestier and island-wide, with the gas pipe union removed, a final pressure test performed, and a Certificate of Gas Safety issued on every gas installation.
