Issues with hot water upstairs

[teaboy1]

Hello

We have been experiencing some issues with hot water in our upstairs bathroom recently. We have always had a dodgy thermostat in the shower which I am replacing. The shower has only ever had one temperature - warm. However recently it has started taking a long time to warm up - sometimes 15-20 mins. The tap on the sink is similar. It sometimes used to take a while to heat up but recently it has got much, much worse. None of the downstairs taps seem to be so severe however sometimes they do take a while to heat up too.

We have a combi boiler and live in a victorian terrace house. We've recently had our boiler serviced and Hive installed if that could make any difference.

I might be imagining things but it does seems to be better when the heating is on.

One of my friends (a plumber) thought I had flow issues. I have a 15mm pipe coming into the property which we are upgrading to a 22mm and although I'm sure this will help, I can't understand why the shower used to work and now doesn't.

Could anyone suggest any troubleshooting I could do prior to calling our a plumber?

Thanks

 

[dilalio]

This sounds like an issue with the boiler... Thermistor! Chlorifier! Divertor!

You need an RGI Heating Engineer, preferrably one who is very familiar with the boiler you have.

Did you not declare the issues you are having with the RGI who serviced the boiler or whoever came to install the hive?

 

[teaboy1]

Thanks.

I've rebooked the British Gas Homecare engineer and will tell them to look into the Thermistor! Chlorifier! Divertor! (sounds like a common issue?)

They didn't pick up any of these issues when here previously. Told me if one of my taps was giving hot water then it wasn't an issue with the boiler!

 

[dilalio]

So... Is at least one of your taps giving constant, nonfluctuating hot water at 45 or so degrees?

In your op you mentioned that all hot taps were occasionally problematic!

 

[teaboy1]

The kitchen sink (nearest the boiler) is the most consistent tap in the house and most of the time we have no problems getting hot water. Recently however there have been a few instances where it has taken 3-4 mins to heat up. Once it is hot, it doesn't fluctuate in temperature.

 

[flameport]

Isolate both hot & cold feeds to the shower, or if no isolators remove the shower completely and cap the pipes.
Then see if the hot water is better at the hot taps.

 

[dilalio]

Isolate both hot & cold feeds to the shower, or if no isolators remove the shower completely and cap the pipes.
Then see if the hot water is better at the hot taps.

Yes. You have to eliminate crossover!

 

[gigz]

Or try isolating the cold feed to the boiler, then open the hot taps, you shouldn't have any flow (apart from the initial dribble).

 

[dilalio]

If mixers turn hot side on only.

 

[teaboy1]

Just a little update, had BG around today who fixed the issue. There was a small split in the DHW diaphragm which seemed to be causing the issue.

Thanks for all your help