Gledhill Torrent - Hot water not so hot

Hi all,

Total newbie to this so hopefully I'll make sense.

This is a problem i believe with either the Gledhill Torrent Direct T210 thermal store or the Thermostatic Blending valve.

Over the last week or two there has been a noticeable whistle/vibration/noise when running the hot water tap at full (when filling a bath for example) from around the thermostatic blending valve.

This has now resulted in only warm water being produced from the hot tap, even though the thermal store itself has charged overnight and is very hot to touch.

Now a couple of things concern me
1) There appears to be very small bits of black plastic coming from the hot water tap possible some sort of valve breaking up / broken ??
2) There is a small water pipe at the top of the tank just above a larger white plastic pipe which i will assume is the overflow pipe, the top pipe therefore i assume is a header tank filler. There is a small valve ( i assume on/off ) on this pipe which is set to the " | " position against the pipe (inst this the off position???)
3) I can see the top of the tank if i stand on a chair, this allows me to see a flimsy plastic cap on the top of the tank, i assume if i prise this off i can see if the header tank has water in it?
4) I'm thinking because the tank is hot, its heating okay, and because the blending valve appears to be where the noise is coming and that the water is only warm (hot to start with for the first few seconds) that its a problem with the blending valve rather than anything more expensive.


Anyone experienced similar ( a search didn't highlight anything of interest).

What's your thoughts on this? Can i take the lid of and see if there's water in the tank?

Can any plumber from the yellow pages come and work on these, or do they need to be specially trained?

Any help appreciated, I'm quite up for doing it myself, however always want to check things before i actually do it!


Thanks for reading this, any further clarifications needed please ask.

Tam

You've more or less sussed it out correctly. Sure you can open the top and check the water level. Something in the thermostatic mixer valve has probably failed, but you should check that the hot pipe to mixer valve is hot. If you can see how to turn off the hot and cold water to the mixer valve you could disconnect it and have a look, or even replace it. You may be able to get a new one cheaper than the Gledhill spare. Beware of plumbers who need to advertise in Yellow Pages.

You have a problem with yellow pages, or just cannot afford it.

You come across as the son of Agile.

And the Blending valve can be purchased through most plumbers merchants.

chrishutt said:

You've more or less sussed it out correctly. Sure you can open the top and check the water level.

Click to expand...

Great, thats what i shall do tonight.

chrishutt said:

Something in the thermostatic mixer valve has probably failed, but you should check that the hot pipe to mixer valve is hot.

Click to expand...

Yeah the pipe from the tank to the blending valve is hot.

chrishutt said:

If you can see how to turn off the hot and cold water to the mixer valve you could disconnect it and have a look, or even replace it. You may be able to get a new one cheaper than the Gledhill spare.

Click to expand...

I can see a tap to turn off the water that goes into the tank, this is also the same pipe that goes through the blending valve so turning this off stops both the cold going to the blending valve and the cold going into the tank (not the filler tank though). If I undo the blending valve the only water likely to escape is water at the same hight or higer than the valve of which there isnt much.

chrishutt said:

Beware of plumbers who need to advertise in Yellow Pages.

Click to expand...

They have to advertise somewhere, otherwise i'll have to wander the streets asking people if they know of a plumber in the area.



Thanks very much for your help, its been really usefull.

Tam

Gasman1015 said:

You have a problem with yellow pages, or just cannot afford it.

You come across as the son of Agile.

Click to expand...

Huh???

Gasman1015 said:

And the Blending valve can be purchased through most plumbers merchants.

Click to expand...

Ooh... thats good news, the building next door from my work is called "the plumb centre" I'll pop in there later.

Thanks
Tam

Just as a follow up to this incase it helps others out in the future.


The header tank did have water in it. The tank is fine. I have removed the thermostic blending valve tonight and can see that it is broken.

I have replaced it with a new one, £45.95 inc VAT and installed it and all is now working fine

Dont forget the 3 rubber washers (one for each of the 3 nuts) you'll need for when you install the replacement valve (as you have probably guessed - i did !)


Thanks to everyone that helped.