Hot water air lock question

CPCUK · 22 Feb 2014

Today I changed over a bathroom sink tap head in my en-suite but what I considered a simple task now has cause a bit of grief.
I switched off the boiler (worcester 30CDi system) and closed the mains water stop cock under the sink.
I opened the taps to drain the water in the hot water cylinder and went about changing the tap head.

I did check that the new tap head wasn't damaged and went through the above procedure to take another look and it seemed fine. I am getting a little dribble from the tap but that's it. Cold taps are all fine. All other hot taps work perfectly in the house.
So, just the en-suite hot tap and en-suite power shower is left not working.
What is my best course of action to get this sorted please?
Thanks for any help.

HERTS P&D · 22 Feb 2014

Place the palm of your hand under the spout of the bath mixer.

Open the hot tap and then open the cold tap

Can you hear/feel any movement? as you will hopefully push the air out of the hot side

Hold for 30 seconds and then turn off the cold tap and remove your hand letting the hot tap run and pull out any air.

Or use a wet vac and suck it out.

Andy

CPCUK · 22 Feb 2014

Hi.

The bath tap is one of those lift handle up and to the side mixer types. I can't select hot and cold seperately if that makes sense.

HERTS P&D · 22 Feb 2014

Lift it up in the centre.

Andy

CPCUK · 22 Feb 2014

I did try after I read ur initial post Abdy and got sprayed with water! I'll give it another go though in a bit. I didn't notice anything different than I had expected.

Burnerman · 22 Feb 2014

I had one of these awkward b's the other week......I had to connect a garden hose to the tap spout (with a jubilee clip) and then connect the hose to a mains supply - an outside tap in this case.
With the supply turned on, I opened the basin tap to hot and the cold water flowed through. With a thunderous belch the air bubble cleared! The hose didn't burst off the tap either, but its best to stand by!
John

CPCUK · 22 Feb 2014

Just had another attempt at your suggestion Andy. I had to move my hand away after about5 secs unless I want to soak the bathroom tiles and myself with the spray!

I'm contemplating Burnerman's idea. I've seen the hose method posted on the web s fair bit. I assume its perfectly safe to do it and is ok to in order to remove the blockage in the power shower?

CombustionGuy · 22 Feb 2014

Do as Andy says but open the tap slowly and it shouldnt spray as much

CPCUK · 22 Feb 2014

will have another go. cheers guys

CPCUK · 22 Feb 2014

Sorry guys. Ive tried and the girlfriend has tried and the wall takes most of the water. The cold water pressure seems to much to hold back with the palm of your hand even if you attempt to open/close the tap slowly. I/we must be doing this wrong I reckon.

chantelle · 23 Feb 2014

Go to any basin in bathroom or kitchen sink as long as you have a cold tap and a hot tap, ideally you need a small length of garden hosepipe just enough to reach from tap to tap.You need to attach hose to cold and hot water taps ideally using rubber hose connectors,open hot tap,open cold mains, get someone to stand by and listen for bubbling noise in your tank in loft,airlock cleared.

CPCUK · 23 Feb 2014

All my taps in the house are the mixer type with lever you lift and move to the side for hot or cold. The only taps which are 'normal taps are those in the en-suite which is good if they weren't such a stupid square shape spout that is to big for a garden hose pipe to fit onto!! This is probably going to be a simple job if I had the equipment. How annoying this is becoming.

Burnerman · 23 Feb 2014

Its obvious that I need to get out more, but I made up a connection that screws onto a washing machine tap from an old w/m hose, and that connects to a length of garden hose with a jubilee clip.
Works well enough!
A 'universal' tap connector is available from Hozelock which works OK, particularly if there's someone standing by keeping an eye on it!
John

CPCUK · 23 Feb 2014

Update:
It turned out that by using the shower in the main bathroom and then retrying the en-suite bathroom shower got things working again (shower at least).

The replacement tap head was checked again in the en-suite and although looked fine the original was reinserted to eliminate he possibility of a faulty unit. The original made no difference so the new one went back in yet again.

With nothing more than a dribble coming from he hot tap the spout plastic diffuser (aerator) was removed and cleaned of limescale build up. The tap pressure returned and normal flow was resumed.
Moral of this story: Check the most obvious things first, even if they seem unlikely.

Thank you all for your help and comments.

chantelle · 28 Feb 2014

Soi what was the problem then?

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Hot water air lock question

chantelle

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