no hot water to taps from direct cylinder

i have a possible job to sort a direct hot water cylinder. the customer suddenly got no hot water. they turned off the immersion heater a few months ago and haven't used it since. i checked the thermostat and it was set at 40 degrees, i changed it to 60 degrees and turned it back on. tried to get hot water out but nothing came out of the tap, no spluttering, nothing so i guess that rules out an airlock (or does it?).
the building is quite old and lead pipe is used to both cold inlet and hot outlet.
the cylinder does feel quite warm to the touch when it had been on for a bit.
so what do you reckon? is it the immersion heater, the thermostat or a blockage in the maze of pipework. the cylinder is dated 1999.

also any advice on cutting into and joining lead pipe to copper?
thanks
andrew

hi you dont say whether you have cold water coming out the taps ??? if you have then i would check to see if there is 240v to the heater first check that mains is to 1 side of the stat then turn up the stat see if it goes to the other side if it does then its the element that has gone ,
it sounds very old anyway, as far as the lead is concerned you will have to use lead to copper addaptors that are available from merchants
best of luck removing the old heater but it seems that it would be better to replace the cyld with a new grade insulated one

have you check there is water in the cold tank, ball valve may be blocked/stuck or supply turned off (assume nothing) check it rather than taking customers word for it.

Hi gasmick2, there is no water at all coming out of the hot taps (3 sets of taps throughout the building)not even a splutter or any noise.

twgas, the shut off valve from tank to cylinder is painted over lead and has not been touched, possibly ever. Will check the tank for water over the next few days.
andrew

hi as the other poster says check for water in the domestic header tank if its full then it must be either an airlock or someone has turned off the valve on the cold feed and it could be broken inside therefore not allowing water to enter the bottom of the cyld
If its an airlock then you will need to get a small peice of hose with tap addaptors on each end put 1 on the cold mains tap on the sink and the other end on the hot tap open the hot tap then open the cold tap and run for about 30 seconds close the cold go to the bath tap and see if water is now coming out it should come out and if the cold feed is ok to the cyld then it should cure the problem