FOUR ENGINEERS AND STILL NO HOT WATER

[DeletedUser]

I have a Worcester C1 combi boiler, ever since I moved into the house back in April I have been having problems with the hot water. So far I have had the thermistor changed, the water valve changed and now the board changed.
The problem was keeping a constant supply of hot water, on occasions when I turn on the kitchen tap the water will get very hot but then all of a sudden cool down. After having called out three engineers I gave in and called Worcester, they came out today and thought it was the board. They replaced it but it still didn't fix the problem and are now saying there is nothing wrong with the boiler. My main problem is that I had a new mixer shower fitted a few weeks ago and so far have been unable to use it as it the water won't get hot enough, although the hot water coming through the taps is not so bad, its just about warm enough for a bath.
The Worcester engineer has suggested that something must be wrong elsewhere and I may need to lift all the floorboards up to trace the pipes. He suggested turning off the valve under the boiler and said this should stop any water coming out the hot tap, I have turned it off but the water still comes from the hot tap. I am getting pretty desperate now to actually finding out what the problem is, nobody seems to be able to tell me!! Any ideas will be gratefully received. Thanks

 

[EliteHeat]

If you have isolated the cold input to the boiler and you still get water coming out of the hot taps then somewhere a cold feed is connected to your domestic hot water supply. Either that or a mixer tap has corroded so much that cold water is being let into the hot water circuit.

 

[Agile]

Its a very obvious problem which any competent boiler engineer should have spotted on the first visit.

Its not the fault of the boiler but something within your house. Its often because mixer showers and joystick taps are fitted without non return valves.

If it coincided with the installation of your shower then that seems to be where the problem will lie. Was it a proper qualified installer?

Tony

 

[oilman]

...........Was it a proper qualified installer?

Tony

Regrettably, "qualified" and "competent" are not necessarily interchangable.

 

[corgiman]

...........Was it a proper qualified installer?

Tony

Regrettably, "qualified" and "competent" are not necessarily interchangable.

and sometimes mutually exclusive

 

[oilman]

If certification comes in for plumbing, just as for electrics, many unqualified, competents will pack up. This will leave another door for the qualified to walk through and mess about with things they may be incapable of understanding.

 

[DeletedUser]

The problem has been there since I brought the property in April, although the previous owners say it was working fine before they moved out. It must be a coincident that as soon as I moved in it started having problems. Wish I had got it checked out now before I brought the house. I did have a new bathroom fitted a few weeks ago as I thought the problem was with the boiler and I could get it fixed. There are now 2 mixer taps in the new bathroom. My dad and brother in law fitted the bathroom but I have isolated everything in the bathroom and the problem is still there and there are non return valves on the shower.

So if there is a cold feed connected to the hot water supply does this mean lifting all the floorboards to find the problem? This I don't mind as the house does need re-decorating anyway (apart from the new bathroom) but am I looking at a costly job? I don't know what to look for so would have to get someone in to do it.

 

[Softus]

Was it a proper qualified installer?

NWhat do you mean by "proper", in this context?

This will leave another door for the qualified to walk through...

Surely you meant to say "unqualified"?

 

[Agile]

Its a very simple problem to locate, usually.

The last one I saw was a "Y" piece joining hot and cold at a washing machine which the husband thought was a nice DIY job.

If you have joystick taps etc you can often listen with a mechanical stethescope or "listening stick" and hear which one is letting cold flow into the hot.

A clever way IF you can isolate the cold supply whilst maintaining the cold input to the combi is to turn on all the clold feeds and see which one comes out hot!

Tony

 

[ChrisR]

on occasions when I turn on the kitchen tap the water will get very hot but then all of a sudden cool down.

That could be an entirely different problem - sludge!

Measure the flow rate at the shower, at showering temperature, in litres/minute (say with 9l bucket)

 

[DeletedUser]

Its a very simple problem to locate, usually.

The last one I saw was a "Y" piece joining hot and cold at a washing machine which the husband thought was a nice DIY job.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You hit the nail right on the head, pulled out the washing machine and there was a Y piece. Had all electric in my previous property so when my dad fitted the washing machine at my new house we didn't realise it would cause problems. Thanks once again.

 

[Agile]

Evidently my new crystal ball is working well !

I am trying to get Mystic Martha to use it as well.

Tony

 

[Softus]

I'm feeling a bit thick about this Y piece scenario - please would someone enlighten me?

The last Y connector I used on a washing machine was used to connect a cold water service to a machine that required a hot feed as well as a cold feed. When the connector is installed correctly, cold water can't enter the hot service, 'cos the hot service isn't connected to the appliance.

Surely, to get cold mains to flow into a hot service the Y connector would have to be turned around such that a single appliance hose was connected to two appliance valves. You'd have to try really hard to do this, given that both the stem of the Y connector and the end of the appliance hose are both female. Are you both saying that someone has used a MI-MI fitting to adapt the connector to achieve something that's completely lunatic?

 

[Agile]

If you supress your natural tendancies so that you can be receptive to lunatic tendancies and just think of the accessories involved then all will become clear.

The "Y" piece is male all over.

The customer has TWO hoses and screws them BOTH to the "Y" piece. Next the customer connects a THIRD hose to the "Y" piece and the other end to the single ( cold ) WMC inlet.

Bingo! There is then a connection between the hot and cold feeds leading to poor shower and HW performance all over the house!

Then there follows a posting here and a need for some agile thinking!

Tony

 

[Softus]

If you supress your natural tendancies so that you can be receptive to lunatic tendancies and just think of the accessories involved then all will become clear.

Er, that's exactly what I did do, hence my reasoning that an adaptor was used.

The "Y" piece is male all over.

Where, pray, do you buy a Y piece with three male ends, and why (TF) does anyone make them? Hint - here's a normal appliance Y piece: