I've recently bought a new house, and trying to get to grips with the plumbing and heating. I've got 3 header tanks in the attic - a small one which I guess is for the CH, and 2 much larger ones which both drain to the same place - they drain to the hot water tank in the airing cupboard.
The large header tanks are both fed from the mains cold feed (although the pressure is very low, it seems), and are both more or less directly above the hot water tank. Each of these 2 large tanks has a gate valve.
We discovered this evening that one of the gate valves is stuck closed. One header tank had drained completely, while the other one is completely full - I tried to open the gate valve on the full tank, but the wheel and spindle just turn without doing anything.
I guess I need to repair the valve, but the problem is it's currently holding a completely full header tank of water at bay. I can't drain the tank, as the valve is knackered - is there some cunning way to repair the valve without draining the tank, or do I need to use a washing up bowl to empty the "stuck" tank, and turn on the hot taps to drain the other (working) one?
Cheers,
Dan.
The large header tanks are both fed from the mains cold feed (although the pressure is very low, it seems), and are both more or less directly above the hot water tank. Each of these 2 large tanks has a gate valve.
We discovered this evening that one of the gate valves is stuck closed. One header tank had drained completely, while the other one is completely full - I tried to open the gate valve on the full tank, but the wheel and spindle just turn without doing anything.
I guess I need to repair the valve, but the problem is it's currently holding a completely full header tank of water at bay. I can't drain the tank, as the valve is knackered - is there some cunning way to repair the valve without draining the tank, or do I need to use a washing up bowl to empty the "stuck" tank, and turn on the hot taps to drain the other (working) one?
Cheers,
Dan.