Plumbing laws we didn't know about
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325984)
Rockingham, Australia
April 10, 2024 12:21am CST
In 2000, the West Australian Plumbers Licensing and Plumbing Standards Regulations decreed that home-owners could no longer do their own basic plumbing tasks. This included maintenance, repair and replacement of taps and showerheads; replacement of washers and water filter cartridges and clearing blocked pipes with a plunger.
I’m not sure who would have been aware of these restrictions because we certainly weren’t. Vince has been doing all sorts of these smaller repairs for a very long time.
Bigger tasks still require a licensed plumber which is fair enough. Of course, plumbers often get called when something goes wrong where a person has been trying to do their own repairs. And you may be risking your insurance if you try to do a major repair and it goes wrong. I can’t believe these laws have been in place for so long and we weren’t aware of them.
The photo is of a community water point that we saw in France.
19 people like this
18 responses
@snowy22315 (170164)
• United States
10 Apr
I don't even think they would try to enforce laws like that here. There are a lot of do it yourselfers around.
4 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (45527)
• India
10 Apr
In India, people rarely do plumbing works on own, except for a few cases.
So such laws cannot be valid here.
2 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (45527)
• India
13 Apr
@JudyEv
Some people who have a keen interest do.
Else not.
One way could be to include it in school curriculum but that is not being done.
Instead such things were more common in the Ancient Indian educational system of Gurukul.
The pupils were more well rounded and even their understanding levels were higher.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (45527)
• India
14 Apr
@JudyEv
Yes I admit that is. However, setting any educational system takes time.
Plus a lot of flaws emerged after Lord Macaulay put in effort to eradicate the ancient Indian education system and imposed a Rote-Learning based and less understanding based system to generate people who were educated but loyal to the British Government and thinking.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16541)
• China
10 Apr
You even can't be allowed to replaced the taps and showerheads on your own ! The Regulations are too strict to obey !
3 people like this
@Beestring (13343)
• Hong Kong
10 Apr
We also have a plumber license system. But most households just use a repair man to do minor tasks.
3 people like this
@Ghostlady (363)
• United States
10 Apr
Wow...we rent our house, and we do all the small plumbing and other stuff, so the landlord doesn't have to call a repairman or plumber..that is how we have kept the rent from going up the past 6 years. We have lived here 18 years now. That really is ridiculous to not do minor stuff. Is the Govt. going to pay the plumber to fix those things? They should if they made it a law that you can't do them yourself. JMO...How would they even know if you changed a washer or the toilet works?
3 people like this
@capirani (2738)
• United States
10 Apr
So, if your toilet gets plugged you have to call a professional to come and use the plunger?
My husband and I did several jobs replacing our faucets, fixing plugged kitchen drains, etc. I always change the shower head to a handheld massaging type shower head wherever I have lived. It is kind of crazy for them to block people from doing easy repair/replace jobs on their own.
As for laws people don't know about, I think that kind of thing has been going on for generations. You can look online for outdated laws that people don't know ever existed. Many, if not most, are so hilarious. But they just have not been removed from the books.
2 people like this
@RebeccasFarm (86776)
• United States
10 Apr
Oh gosh Judy..that seems rather restrictive.
2 people like this
@wolfgirl569 (95401)
• Marion, Ohio
10 Apr
You should be able to do the simple things at least.
2 people like this
@RasmaSandra (73537)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
10 Apr
At least now you know and I guess from now on if anything goes wrong with the plumbing it is best to call a professional,
2 people like this
@Marilynda1225 (79827)
• United States
10 Apr
Some of those basic plumbing needs wouldn't be included in a law that I would be familiar with. Unclogging a toilet with a plunger for instance.
2 people like this
@just4him (306621)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
10 Apr
It seems strange that they would make regulations that takes simple replacements out of your hands and into the plumbers hands and into their pockets. It's good though for people who know nothing about doing those simple tasks. I'm one of those people.
I'm glad we don't have those regulations here, or if we do, I don't know about them. Maintenance takes care of everything here. When we have a maintenance person. Right now, we don't.
2 people like this
@LovesEverybody (1781)
•
10 Apr
Those do seem to be extreme. I wonder if that is to keep those who probably can't do it, like especially me, from getting ambitious and trying and causing a mess?
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (45523)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
10 Apr
Love that water point. I'd love to have it in my yard. 
Anyway... how petty of the plumbers not letting you change washers and filter cartridges or clearing blocked drains. That's like doctors saying you can't put a bandage on a cut yourself but you have to go to the hospital.
Anyway... how petty of the plumbers not letting you change washers and filter cartridges or clearing blocked drains. That's like doctors saying you can't put a bandage on a cut yourself but you have to go to the hospital.2 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (45527)
• India
13 Apr
I just again read your discussion. Clearing Blocked pipes with a plunger is a very basic thing.
I wonder why it is also now part of the official plumber's job?
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (156588)
• United States
10 Apr
You can't use a plunger? That's ridiculous! Have a good day.
2 people like this
