Storage And Pump Sets
Tanks with a float valve on the municipal feed and a pump downstream, so an interruption is a non-event.
More on storage and pump sets →Home/Plumber Vermont
A plumber in Vermont, Fisherhaven and Hawston at the same rate as Hermanus. This stretch has been on municipal tankers before, which is why storage comes up here more often than it does in town.
The usual work, plus the one thing this stretch of coast asks about more than most.
Tanks with a float valve on the municipal feed and a pump downstream, so an interruption is a non-event.
More on storage and pump sets →Gauged at the meter first, so a pump is only fitted where a pump is actually the answer.
More on water pressure repairs →Tested before replaced, including the sediment this supply leaves at the bottom of a cylinder.
More on geyser repair →Fixed search fee, and ideal conditions to test in on a property that stands empty between visits.
More on leak detection →Same response as Hermanus, because Vermont is in the same working area rather than out of town.
More on emergency plumbing →Boundary checked first, and reported to Overstrand where the blockage is past your erf.
More on drain unblocking →Tell us what is happening. If you are asking about storage rather than reporting a fault, say roughly how many people the house sleeps.
On 28 September 2023, during a water shortage in Greater Hermanus, Overstrand Municipality published a list of places where water trucks and JoJo tankers would be stationed, with roaming trucks patrolling in between, and asked residents to bring their own containers. Vermont was on that list, alongside Sandbaai and Mount Pleasant among others.
It is worth being precise about what that does and does not tell you. It does not mean Vermont has a chronic supply problem, and this site is not going to claim one. What it does establish, as a matter of record rather than of speculation, is that a household on this stretch of coast queueing at a tanker with a container is not a hypothetical. It has happened, recently, and it is the kind of thing that only feels unlikely until the morning it is not.
That single fact reframes what a storage tank is. Most people file storage under emergency preparedness, somewhere between a generator and a torch drawer, which makes it easy to defer indefinitely. A better way to think about it, on a supply that is actively managed and has been interrupted before, is as a buffer between your house and everybody else's timing. A tank fitted with a float valve on the municipal feed simply tops itself up whenever water is available, including overnight when demand across the zone is lowest. It does not need the supply to be strong. It only needs the supply to exist for part of the day.
The pump downstream is what turns that into something you notice. Without one you have stored water and no useful pressure; with one you have consistent pressure regardless of what the main is doing at that particular hour. The two together mean a burst up the road, a maintenance shutdown or a peak-season sag stops being your problem and becomes a fact about the street.
The sizing conversation is simpler than people expect, and it is measured in days rather than litres. Work out roughly what the household gets through in a normal day, then decide how many of those days you want standing in the garden. If you are already having plumbing work done on a Vermont property, price the tank and pump into that job rather than as a separate one later. The pipework is open anyway, and that is most of the cost.
Is Vermont charged as a Hermanus call-out?
Yes. Vermont runs into Onrus and is part of the same working area west of Hermanus, so it is not a distance job.
Why do people here talk about water storage so much?
Because Vermont has been on the receiving end of an interruption within living memory. When Overstrand stationed water tankers across Greater Hermanus in September 2023, Vermont was one of the listed distribution points, along with Sandbaai and Mount Pleasant.
What size storage tank makes sense for a house?
It depends on how long you want to be independent for and how many people are in the house. The useful way to think about it is days rather than litres: work out roughly what the household uses in a day, then decide how many days of that you want sitting in the garden.
Does a tank need a pump?
To get useful pressure into the house, yes, unless the tank can be mounted high enough to give gravity a chance, which on most properties it cannot. The pump is the smaller part of the cost, and it also gives you a consistent pressure regardless of what the main is doing.
Can a tank be plumbed so it fills automatically?
Yes, with a float valve on the municipal feed so it tops itself up whenever supply is available, including overnight when demand is lowest. Fitted with a changeover arrangement, the house draws from the main normally and from the tank when the main is not delivering.
Is Vermont on the Greater Hermanus water supply?
Yes, so the blended supply from De Bos Dam and the Table Mountain Group boreholes applies here, and so does the deposit behaviour that comes with it. Check the aerator before assuming a pressure problem.
Do you cover Fisherhaven and Hawston as well?
Yes, both are on the same side and the same run. Hawston has its own recent history with a flood-damaged water main, which is another argument for storage on that stretch.
Can you install a tank for a house that is empty most of the year?
Yes, and it is worth thinking about what happens if the supply fails while nobody is there. A tank with a float valve will simply sit full. What matters more on an unoccupied property is a working stopcock and somebody who can close it, because a tank does not help against a leak inside the house.
Get In Touch
Tell us the address and what you need. If it is a storage enquiry rather than a fault, mention how many people the house sleeps and we can size it from there.