Isolating hot water

[Steve Reed DIY]

Same old story I'm afraid. Simple job just got much more difficult. Installing new taps in downstairs cloakroom. Just reconnected everything and the old and crusty isolation valve for the hot water feed below the sink is leaking when I reopen it. No amount of fiddling stops a very slight but significant weeping from the bit that you turn. So I need to switch off the hot water feed entirely and fit a new valve. I have read that there should be a gate valve in the upstairs airing cupboard which isolates the hot feed. There is and it is stuck solid. There are also two ball valves on 22mm pipes that disappear into the loft - I have no idea what these do and what the consequences would be of shutting the valves. We have a traditional gas boiler and a power shower. Can anyone offer advice on what to do?

Thanks in advance.

Steve

 

[Gasguru]

Either drain down the cold water cistern entirely (tie up the float arm) or bung the cold outlet in the cistern feeding the hot water cylinder.
If you open a hot tap you can easily determine which outlet is the hot by the suction.
An old carrot does the trick.
Isolating valves are often more trouble than they're worth.