Gledhill BoilerMate Air Lock?

[lummocks]

Hi, bit of a long story i'll cut it short!

After moving into house and having massive lack of hot water i replaced the three way mixer valve (oventrop) and have now great hot water well ish We keep loosing our hot water pressure and from people i have spoken to they suggest an air lock but no one has suggested how to go about removing it as i understand its unvented mains pressure system. the system is about 12-14 yrs old but i don't think its a scale problem as it will work fine with great pressure for days then suddenly drop off but never whilst the tap is running always when you initially turn the tap on.

Hope someone can help.

It would be so very appreciated!

 

[brumylad]

does the copper cylinder have a plastic lid on it ?

take it off. Is there a shallow cistern under the lid with a ball valve?

does the problem always happen with the same tap ?

when the problem happens is the cold water from the taps ok?

 

[lummocks]

Its always the hot water from any tap in the house , there is a cistern at the top covered with some plastic with a ball valve yes. It's always only the hot tap never the cold

 

[brumylad]

Hi, bit of a long story i'll cut it short!

suggest an air lock but no one has suggested how to go about removing it as i understand its unvented mains pressure system. !

I'm 99% sure that your system is whats called a thermal store system. It is different to an unvented system. The hot water should be at mains pressure so an air-lock is very unlikely.

If the problem occurs at more than one tap then all I can think of is that the problem with the 3-way thermostatic mixing valve is occuring again, though intermittently.

 

[lummocks]

even though the mixer valve is literally 1 month old? The hot water is at mains pressure but randomly it will drop. say 9/10 baths are filled at mains pressure bloody thing.

You can guarantee when you want a shower/bath/wash up the most the pressure will disappear

 

[oilman]

With the unit 12+ years old it's likely the heatexchanger has hard scale deposits in it, and bits of this break off and get into the blending valve, this will screw it up surprisingly quickly. You may be able to fix it by putting fine filter meshes in the input ports (hot especially), alternatively you need to descale the pipe. You will have to lower the temperature to 50 deg C before doing this to avoid overstressing the plastic container in the descaling pump.

 

[lummocks]

Thanks very much for your help that sounds like a plan! Is this descaling equipment I can use myself / hire / purchase or is it definatly something for a pro?

Thanks again.

 

[oilman]

You can hire it.