Hi , a friend of mine who lives on the 5th floor of a condo has practically never hot , or even warm, water. Another person has a similar problem, ( same block) but not too bad. All the others have no problem. Who is responsible ? Should the condo office help with plumbers or is it up to her ? ( old lady)

My question is, how is this possible ? All around her have hot water, bar one who has light problems.

There is a new guy in the same building who has rebuilt the whole interior, as he showed me proudly around, I noticed he’d changed the whole configuration, especially the kitchen. Could that have caused this ? I feel sorry for the lady and I believe not very well off for expensive plumbers. Any ideas ? Thanks

i would invite the landlord to verify the temperature.

if that fails, i would buy a water heater, and ask the landlord to install it

Edited May 2May 2 by mordothailand

Just now, geisha said:

My question is, how is this possible ? All around her have hot water, bar one who has light problems.

There is a new guy in the same building who has rebuilt the whole interior, as he showed me proudly around, I noticed he’d changed the whole configuration, especially the kitchen. Could that have caused this ? I feel sorry for the lady and I believe not very well off for expensive plumbers. Any ideas ? Thanks

This could be a manifold or distribution problem, where the hot water is not being properly balanced or prioritised. It could also be a check-valve problem, or a faulty thermostat/mixer element in her own unit.

That is where I would start. First check if the problem is the same from every tap in the apartment. If only one tap or shower has the problem, it is probably local to that mixer. If every tap has the same problem, then it is more likely a supply, valve, pressure, or building distribution issue.

A simple solution, if she owns the apartment, could be to install her own electric hot shower unit. But before spending money, she should also speak to the building or complex manager, because if the problem is in the common hot-water supply, risers, valves, or pressure system, it should not be only her responsibility.

Anyway if there is a serious management, they will at least try to solve the problem.

Edited May 2May 2 by Hummin

Just now, geisha said:

Hi , a friend of mine who lives on the 5th floor of a condo has practically never hot , or even warm, water. Another person has a similar problem, ( same block) but not too bad. All the others have no problem. Who is responsible ? Should the condo office help with plumbers or is it up to her ? ( old lady)

My first question is why would she expect hot water?

Simplistically the condo will normally only provide water - at whatever temperature comes through the pipes from the tank.

If you want hot then normally you need to either have a shower unit that heats or a multi point heater under the sink - one for each bathroom - or a more complicated hot water cylinder set up.

If your friend has those and is not getting hot water then likely they are faulty. Could be as simple as replacing the flexible hoses to the hot water heaters as they have got blocked or the heaters themselves are blocked/not working.....

Unless the condo offers hot water (really?!) Just get a plumber in to resolve.......

Just now, topt said:

My first question is why would she expect hot water?

Simplistically the condo will normally only provide water - at whatever temperature comes through the pipes from the tank.

If you want hot then normally you need to either have a shower unit that heats or a multi point heater under the sink - one for each bathroom - or a more complicated hot water cylinder set up.

If your friend has those and is not getting hot water then likely they are faulty. Could be as simple as replacing the flexible hoses to the hot water heaters as they have got blocked or the heaters themselves are blocked/not working.....

Unless the condo offers hot water (really?!) Just get a plumber in to resolve.......

Will check.

Just now, geisha said:

Hi , a friend of mine who lives on the 5th floor of a condo has practically never hot , or even warm, water. Another person has a similar problem, ( same block) but not too bad. All the others have no problem. Who is responsible ? Should the condo office help with plumbers or is it up to her ? ( old lady)

My question is, how is this possible ? All around her have hot water, bar one who has light problems.

There is a new guy in the same building who has rebuilt the whole interior, as he showed me proudly around, I noticed he’d changed the whole configuration, especially the kitchen. Could that have caused this ? I feel sorry for the lady and I believe not very well off for expensive plumbers. Any ideas ? Thanks

Install an "on-demand" hot water heater.

3 hours ago, geisha said:

a friend of mine who lives on the 5th floor of a condo has practically never hot , or even warm, water. Another person has a similar problem, ( same block) but not too bad. All the others have no problem. Who is responsible

Typically, a Thai Condo doesn't share hot water, generally a condo/apartment will have its own hot water system.

The owner of the condo is responsible, the Juristic office should have a technican to help but they may charge.

Edited May 3May 3 by SAFETY FIRST

There is no such thing as a hotel style centralised hot water system in a condo building in Thailand. Each condo has one or more stand alone water heater units to heat their own water. Neither are there hot water tanks in Thai condos.

Find the hot water heater unit/s - assuming of course that these units do exist and the room is not a cheap Thai rental room that will probably not have any hot water system at all.

If it's a single-point unit for the bathroom sink or shower only, it should be on the shower wall or occasionally under the bathroom sink. Some muppets do install them in the ceiling above the shower, but that is rare.

If it's a multi-point unit designed to serve multiple outlets, it could be under the kitchen or bathroom sinks, or somewhere near where the water pipes enter the condo.

Anyway - find it/them and you will see reset/test buttons/levers on the unit. These safety features may have been triggered and need resetting - push the appropriate lever/button to reset. There is also an added safety reset button inside the cover on many units. Remove the outer case and if there is such a button, an image inside the cover will show you where it is. This will be a very small micro-switch on the circuit board.

Also, check the temperature dial/switch on the face of the heater (if it's a multi-point heater) as it may be set to OFF.

If the heaters exist and you find them, and resetting them does not work, then check the switchboard for a tripped circuit breaker.

Edited May 3May 3 by Gsxrnz

On 5/2/2026 at 11:03 PM, geisha said:

Hi , a friend of mine who lives on the 5th floor of a condo has practically never hot , or even warm, water. Another person has a similar problem, ( same block) but not too bad. All the others have no problem. Who is responsible ? Should the condo office help with plumbers or is it up to her ? ( old lady)

My question is, how is this possible ? All around her have hot water, bar one who has light problems.

There is a new guy in the same building who has rebuilt the whole interior, as he showed me proudly around, I noticed he’d changed the whole configuration, especially the kitchen. Could that have caused this ? I feel sorry for the lady and I believe not very well off for expensive plumbers. Any ideas ? Thanks

dOES SHE RENT OR OWN

If she owns it, please have her buy a water heater for the bathroom shower.

If she rents, talk to the landlord about getting a heater installed.

In this day and age I am surprised any condos are not built with the individual heaters.