Gravity H/w airlock problem..

[paulwhiteside]

Hello

I have just moved into a new house, it is an old style, has a hot water cylinder and a boiler and also central heating.

The problem I have is the hot water in the cylinder doesn't seem to get hot! Apparantly, after speaking to my neighbour, he has this problem too and says he constantly get airlocks to his cylinder. After kindly having a look he tells me his system and layotu is the same as mine, and must've been installed years ago by the same plumber. He also says the hot water circuit is gravity type (old).

Is this likely to be hard to solve as no hot water is annoying! Water comes from the hot tap but is just cold! Can I do anything to remove this airlock?

Any tips much appreciated.

 

[tamz]

Get someone in to have a look. It is usually easily fixed but not by your average diyer.

 

[paulwhiteside]

Hi, thanks for replying. I have done plumbing jobs before, in my old house, it was fully pumped though. I have in the past replaced a 3 port valve head which which had faulty microswitch, a cylinder thermostat which was stuck open and fitted a new programmer a few years back which was sending power out to my room thermostat.

Is there anything I can do? I have tools if need be in my shed.

 

[tamz]

Probably out of your depth with this one as it involves something that may be considered dangerous.

 

[paulwhiteside]

Why what is it? Let me know and will only try it if I am confident I can do it safely.

 

[tamz]

Sorry no can do

 

[Ronald0]

... "Water comes from the hot tap but is just cold!"

If you suspect air in the hot water primary circuit have you tried to bleed it? Is there an upstand bleed on the flow from the boiler as it enters the cylinder?

What type of valve controls the HW and CH tee? What happens to the HW with the boiler running and the heating shut off?

 

[tamz]

Is there an upstand bleed on the flow from the boiler as it enters the cylinder?

No

What type of valve controls the HW and CH tee?

None

What happens to the HW with the boiler running and the heating shut off?

At the moment..............nothing.

 

[paulwhiteside]

How can it be unsafe to get an airlock out? Please help!!

 

[Ronald0]

Who is this tamz guy?

If you can access your boiler drain valve, connect a garden hose to it and water will push air out of primary circuit into f&e tank.

 

[paulwhiteside]

I don't seem to have 1 on the boiler but there's one at the radiator down stairs. Shall I use this one? Should I leave it for about a minute and then check the header tank water level?

Thanks RonaldO for helping.

 

[Ronald0]

Do you have boiler manual, it will show location drain valve.

Well you can try rad drain valve. If it blows any crud into the f&e tank you will need to scoop it out. Excess water will exit from the tank overflow.

Have no HW/CW tee valve? If so you need to open it

Defo no upstand bleed?

 

[Nige F]

there should be a 22mm vent going up + over feed tank off the top primary connection to the hot cylinder and a 15mm cold feed from the feed tank to the bottom primary connection to the cylinder. The primaries should be 28mm . Simple gravity setup