Low hot water pressure from tap all of a sudden

[whassupbob]

Hi all,

Last yeah our boiler packed in and we resorted to using the plug directly on the hot water cylinder to heat the water.

Unfortunately a year on we've got uneven flow and very very low pressure on the hot water (the cold is fine). When I run the hot water all I get (depending on how long I've left it for) is upto 1 minute of hot water (that's about 5 hours of the flow not being used). Is there any simple solutions to this?

As a measure that we paid for a new pump to be installed hoping that would solve the problem. I hope this rules out the pump being faulty. 24 hours on after the water pressured dropped the feel pipes to the cylinder are boiling hot implying it could be a blockage or pump failure?

Any solution would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

 

[LUNAT]

HI

sorry can you make your question clear ? we will try to help.

 

[whassupbob]

Hu Lunat,

Sorry if if it was unclear first time round:

) Boiler make / model (gas or oil)
Unknown - N/A

2) What is / is not happening.
The cold tap is working fine but the hot water tap loses pressure after a few seconds of use.

3) Has ANYTHING else been done or changed recently.
Nothing.

4) When did the problem start?
48 hours ago.

5) When does it happen? eg, heating coming on or going off.
When I turn the hot tap on. I get upto a minute of hot water but it eventally turns to a drip then nothing.

6) Anything else you feel may be of relevance.
Seems to be with every hot tap in the house

Thanks everyone!

 

[gavinda]

check that nothing is blocking the bottom of your water storagw tank in the loft. iether that or using the immersion non-stop has scaled your cylinder up

 

[Whitespirit66]

You may have a partial blockage in the cold water supply pipe ie. the pipe that goes fron the bottom of tank in roof and connects to the bottom of the cylinder.

Have you got a drain off point where this pipe connects to the bottom of the cylinder?

 

[whassupbob]

Thanks guys for the feedback.

@gavinda - I'm not at home today but tomorrow I'll check out the loft as see If I can spot a blockage. If using the immersion none stop has scaled up the cylinder to make it fail, do you have any idea's on the cost of fixing it?

@Whitespirit66 - I'm not at home until tomorrow, if I've got a drain off point at he bottom of the cylinder what should I do?

Thanks again!

 

[mickyg]

after checking for debris in your storage tank the easiest thing to try is back feed your hot supply from the mains. Will hopefully shift any blockage or air lock causing your problem. A few ways you can do this,
- if you have a mixer tap in the kitchen, plug the spout, you can try with your hand(you will prob get a bit wet ) then turn on hot and cold supplies
- connect a hose from mains onto hot tap if you have a hose adaptor.
- if you have hot&cold supplies to washing m/c connect them together with 1 hose and turn on.

just be careful not to do this for to long, try 10-20seconds at first.

 

[whassupbob]

Hi Everyone,

I managed to get time to get at the tank in the loft and it appears the switch for the cock-and-ball (is that what it's called?) had seized and become stuck in the 'tank full' position.

A trip to B&Q is now in order to replace the switch as it's fulled lodged in. Is there any tips or advice I need when replacing this?

Thanks for all your tips and help. It's greatly appreciated from me and my family!

 

[gavinda]

turn off the mains, and use new washer/ptfe tape for good seal. good luck