Bought an old house - water tank blocked?

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Just bought a house (it's very old) it's got a water tank in the loft which feeds a hot water cylinder

Was trying to figure out how it's been piped. So turned the mains off. Then opened all the taps and the ones fed by the mains stopped running.

However some cold taps in the second bathroom kept running.. so they most be supplied by the water tank

Anyway I decided to keep them running until the tank emptied (probability a bad idea!)

Then I turned the mains on and am now getting small drops from the taps that are supplied by the water tank also hot water taps are trickling too. So any idea what's happened? Have I inadvertently caused a blockage?

Have left it for a couple of hours and still the same.
 
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Is the loft tank full of water ?
If it is ,then it's airlocked pipework or blocked. Was the inside of tank fairly clean before you drained it ?
 
If you have a mixer tap in the kitchen, hold your hand over the spout and turn the hot and cold taps on fully. The mains should then be forced up the hot piping and free any air trapped. I’ve done this several times before. If not, try to connect a mains fed cold feed to the hot tap with a hose if possible and turn both taps on.
 
Ok I've taken my first trip up to the loft..not very pleasant!

There's two tanks.. a big one and a small one. The small one looks particularly dirty, the big one not so much. They both have water in. Made a video.. will post here when uploaded

Tried the mixer tap trick and and it didn't work
 
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The small tank is the f&e ,feeding central heating/ boiler.
The large tank is the problem . You tell us it has water in it ,but is it full ( water level within several inches of the tank top )?
 
Here's a picture of both from outside
PXL_20210522_144356703.jpg
 
Ok,the tank has plenty of water in it. The outlets are low down ,near the base and the vids do not show clearly if there is one ,or more than one outlet. You will need to get cold mains pressure into the Pipework to shift air locks. Or you could try putting a hose pipe into the loft tanks outlet ,and blowing heavily into it ( need good lungs ),with hot and cold taps open.
 
Yes apologies about the poor videos...I was on all fours and couldn't see very well. (Goggles had steamed up)

As far as I could tell there is only one outlet of the big tank. Will see if I can blow down it
 
If that does not work ,have a look near washing machines cold water supply pipe . There is very often a hot supply there with an isolation valve . Bridging a washing machine supply hose across both valves will join mains cold into hot supply pipe.
 
Yes biitch! (Sorry been watching breaking bad)

@Mottie your mixer tap trick did it. Wore rubber gloves and held on for dear life

You've saved me in more ways than one fella.. wife was meant to come down to see the new house tomorrow and she would have been none too pleased if there was no hot water
 
Yes biitch! (Sorry been watching breaking bad)

@Mottie your mixer tap trick did it. Wore rubber gloves and held on for dear life

You've saved me in more ways than one fella.. wife was meant to come down to see the new house tomorrow and she would have been none too pleased if there was no hot water
Lol. It can get a bit squirty but it’s worked for me a few times. (y)
 
Tried the mixer tap trick and and it didn't work

If the tap has separate channels for hot and cold as far as the nozzle then to back feed cold water into the hot pipe system requires a sack held over the nozzle. A finger from a rubber glove will do the job.

back feed coaxial.jpg
 
Went up to the loft again to have a look inside the tank. Was thinking some blocking object might have popped back into the tank. Didn't see anything obvious though

However, it struck me that the tank isn't too clean and the lid is just a piece of polystyrene. Is it worth while attempting a clean - how would I go about that? Also, what's the best way to put a lid on these.. is polystyrene the usual thing?
 
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