By Ian Holmes & Spencer Sterritt

UPDATE: Hot water restored to Nanaimo apartment after 11 days without it

Jan 16, 2017 | 1:21 PM

NANAIMO — Hot water has finally been restored to a Nanaimo apartment building where it hadn’t been available since January 5. Pine Bluff Apartments manager Joseph Madge confirms with NanaimoNewsNOW that a plumber fixed the issue on Monday, Jan. 16. It has also been confirmed via a resident of the apartment that the issue has been resolved.

EARLIER:

It’s been a rough start to 2017 for people living in a Nanaimo apartment building, as they try to cope with a prolonged stretch without any hot water.

Sandy Brimacombe, who lives in the Pine Bluff Apartments on Third St., says the 30 units in the building have not had hot water since Jan. 5. Brimacombe says it’s been inconvenient and frustrating since the property manager has been less than forthcoming in keeping affected residents informed.

“You cannot do anything without hot water,” said Brimacombe. “You can’t do your laundry, you can’t bathe, you can’t do your dishes…it just really, really bothered me and a lot of other people in the building too,” she said.

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Brimacombe isn’t pleased with the the building’s property manager, who she claims hasn’t done a good job of keeping residents updated on the problem and when it will be fixed.

NanaimoNewsNOW contacted Pine Bluff’s property manager Joseph Madge on the phone Monday. He says a faulty re-circulation pump and an underground water line are the issues. He says the underground line froze, then thawed and started to leak. Madge is waiting for a contractor to deal with the issue. He hopes the problem can be fixed on either Monday or Tuesday.

Brimacombe was updated by Madge on Monday and was told the problem affecting Pine Bluff Apartments is not an uncommon issue in Nanaimo right now.

“The repair man has been unable to come to our apartment because he’s too busy dealing with other places in Nanaimo that are also frozen,” she said.

Terry Kelloway, owner of Roto-Rooter in Nanaimo, said he isn’t surprised he and other plumbers have been overwhelmed with calls for burst water pipes and tank issues.

“We’re just not used to these cold, cold temperatures we’ve received over the last few weeks,” he said.

Kelloway likened the pipes bursting to a “fountain inside a wall” as the frozen water lines buckle with the recent thaw.

“With the good weather now, the warm temperatures, we’re having problems with those lines being compromised,” he said.

According to Kelloway, the issue predominantly affects older residences and more ancient water pipes, which haven’t been taxed by winter weather until now.

Hot water tanks, such as Sandy Brimacombe’s, failing with the changing temperatures is one of the quickest issues, Kelloway said, since hot water freezes faster than cold water.

To prevent further pipe issues, he recommended disconnecting any hoses and keeping hose beds insulated to prevent drastic temperature changes.