Hot Water only trickles

[brittas2009]

We have a problem with the Hot water in that it's only coming out of the taps in a trickle. It runs quite quickly for the first 20 seconds then slows to a trickle. It's the same from all the taps in the house.

To add a ' further fly in the ointment' our very nosy little cat decided to lay on top of the cold water tank in the loft, cleverly managing to push the lid and insulation into the tank!

We've pulled all of the cover out of the tank but we're concerned that some of the rockwool has gone in through the downpipe to the H/W cylinder. Having said that when the taps are on the tank is refilling OK, so not sure if this is a redherring... Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[gas4you]

Certainly sounds like a partial blockage in the cold feed to the HW cylinder from the loft tank.

Check there is no obstruction in the outlet at the bottom of the tank.

You could also connect a hose across a cold main tap and a hot tap. Open the hot, then the cold and if you are lucky it will blast the blockage back into the tank

 

[swidders]

I agree with dave - if successful, you will have to drain down the cold tank and clean out - tie ball valve up, bit of mesh over the outlet while you turn on the tap to drain it (to stop debris getting into pipe), then cups/buckets/cloths to clean and remove all debril.

 

[mogget]

These symptoms are consistent with there being a restriction in the cold feed pipe to the cylinder.

My cat decided to train as a plumber's mate, she did very well too but fled when I lit the blowlamp

There should be a gate valve in the cold feed pipe - if the blockage is above this it should be relatively easy to clear.

Here's something to try, but ONLY if the gate valve is higher up than the cylinder outlet (at the top of the cylinder) - otherwise you'd have a flood. If you're not confident with plumbing, please don't!

Close the gate valve, turn off the boiler and immersion heater, and open a hot tap to drain the excess water. Then undo the nut on the LOWER side of the gate valve and release the pipe. Put a nice big bucket underneath and open the valve. If you get a trickle then the blockage is above, and you may be able to shift it by poking a wire etc up the pipe. Be warned though, when it shifts you will get LOTS of water coming out, and don't forget to pull the wire out before you close the valve!

If you get lots of water straight away, the blockage will be further along, either caught in the cold feed, or the top of the cylinder.

 

[bengasman]

chances are there is some debris in the pipes as well