i am tring to change all the washers on my taps, the Problem i'm having is that there is no isolation valve to turn the hot water off so i have to drain down the hot water tank, when i fill it up it gets full of air and little or no hot water from the hot taps.... is there an easier way to drain or isolate the water and is there a way to stop air from entering the system or a quicker way to get rid of it, sometimes it takes me hours, any info is apreciated...THANX
hot water cylinder
- Thread starter robbymearns64
- Start date
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you don't have to drain the hot cylinder to rewasher a tap. Just turn off the cold feed and open a hot tap until water stops coming out. Should be less than a bucketful.
Hot taps are fed from the top of the cylinder, not the bottom.
Hot taps are fed from the top of the cylinder, not the bottom.
I don't think he knows that, and he has said there is no isolation, I'm just trying to ascertain what type of cylinder he has so as to talk him through isolation
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the cylinder is in the airing cupboard ustairs i assume it's indirect as there is heating in the house... there is no valve from the cylinder at all to isolate the hot water that's why i shut down the main stopcock and drain the whole cylinder, but whwn i try and refill the system that is when the probs start. ie air or little water flow from the hot water tap, any info would be appreciated, thanks
G
Goldspoon
Find the tank of water that feeds your cylinder (either just above it or in loft). Tie up ball valve using piece of wood and string - so it cannot let water in (or turn off tap on exit from tank if it has one). If two tanks you want the larger one. OR, as you know how to do it... turning the mains supply off does the same job as tying up the ball valves.
Run hot taps until they stop flowing. This will be when the cylinder is full but with no head of pressure to push it up and out of the top of the cylinder. So you can have a cylinder full of water and still do your job (water leaves the cylinder from the top).
Note: If your cylinder is fed by mains rather than tank of water then ignore all above as you have an unvented cylinder. Do a web search for vented and unvented cylinder - they look very different... you'll see.
Run hot taps until they stop flowing. This will be when the cylinder is full but with no head of pressure to push it up and out of the top of the cylinder. So you can have a cylinder full of water and still do your job (water leaves the cylinder from the top).
Note: If your cylinder is fed by mains rather than tank of water then ignore all above as you have an unvented cylinder. Do a web search for vented and unvented cylinder - they look very different... you'll see.
Go to your kitchen sink and put your hand over the spout then open the hot water and then the cold.
This will force mains pressure water into the cylinder and push the air out.
Hold the spout covered as long as you can, it may take a few attempts to force the air out.
Pete
This will force mains pressure water into the cylinder and push the air out.
Hold the spout covered as long as you can, it may take a few attempts to force the air out.
Pete
Thanks for all the advice guys it much appreciated,the part im confused about is the amount of water you say comes out the cylinder, when i opened up the hot water tap it ran for about 3 minutes, with hot water coming out of the tap for about 2 minutes then the last minute the water was cool, i tried loosening the tap body to see if i could just swap it over quickly while the water was draining but there was quite a lot of pressure behind it, so confused to how i can do this if you say only a small amount of water should come out, im quite competent and like to try most things and this looks fairly straight forward unless i'm doing something wrong ??????
Robbie,
Take another look at your cylinder.
There will be a pipe running to the bottom of it from the loft( more ofthen than not it enters at the back of the cylinder). Usually in 22mm but could be 15mm.
On this pipe the should be a red coloured wheel head valve. Turns this off and it stops the flow of water from the cistern in the loft removing the head pressure forcing the hot water out.
Open the hot taps upstairs and downstairs and the flow will stop. Leave them open.
When done open the valve in the airing cupboard and the hot water should start flowing again albeit with a little bit of splurting but you should get any airlocks.
If in any doubt, take pic of your airing cupboard and cylinder.
Rico
Take another look at your cylinder.
There will be a pipe running to the bottom of it from the loft( more ofthen than not it enters at the back of the cylinder). Usually in 22mm but could be 15mm.
On this pipe the should be a red coloured wheel head valve. Turns this off and it stops the flow of water from the cistern in the loft removing the head pressure forcing the hot water out.
Open the hot taps upstairs and downstairs and the flow will stop. Leave them open.
When done open the valve in the airing cupboard and the hot water should start flowing again albeit with a little bit of splurting but you should get any airlocks.
If in any doubt, take pic of your airing cupboard and cylinder.
Rico
thanks rico
there are no valves on bottom of cylinder or pipework coming down from loft, there is a coper pipe 22mm i think coming from halfway up the cylinder and thats the only valve in the entire cupboard, is this normal ???? thanks mate
there are no valves on bottom of cylinder or pipework coming down from loft, there is a coper pipe 22mm i think coming from halfway up the cylinder and thats the only valve in the entire cupboard, is this normal ???? thanks mate
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