Luke warm water

[Gareth73]

Hi all,

Had a quick look through the forum and cant find a problem similar to mine, so here goes....

A couple of days ago my hot water system decided to start giving me just luke warm water. Not hot, not cold, just luke warm. I think its a gas based system and I know the gas is ok as my oven and hob work perfectly well.

I've checked the temperature adjuster on the tank in my airing cupboard, this is set to about 65 i think. I tried turning it up to see if this did anything, but the water temp remained luke warm, so I put this back to how it was. There are a couple of other odd looking gadgets with wires and pipes in this airing cupboard, but I dont have a clue what they are so have left well alone.

I also have an imerssion heater. If I flick ther switch for this inside my airing cupboard, something whirs into action and an hour or so later my tank is full of hot water again. Obviously this is a costly approach so dont want to keep doing this for too long.

I've been in the house for nearly 18 months and had nothing like this before. Is there a possibility i could have just knocked a switch or dial by mistake whilst hanging/removing clothes?

Any suggestions before I have to call out an engineer?

Cheers,
Gareth

 

[kevplumb]

the temp adjuster is connectd to a zone valve silver box with wires
either the stat (temp adjuster ) has failed or the zone valve has failed
stock reply check the header tank f&e cistern usually in loft

 

[Gareth73]

Stock reply? Ummmm, yeah. You're talking to a complete thicko here when it comes to this sort of thing

Thanks for the the reply though. Will go check it out in a bit. Expect more questions to follow.....!

 

[kevplumb]

thats why you get the stock reply its the most common fault

 

[Gareth73]

OK, am at the airing cupboard with me laptop....

The temp adjuster (a white plastic thing made by honeywell) has one white cable coming out of it. It joins 3 other cables that all go into the wall. Presume this leads to the loft?

Couple of what might seem obvious questions..

Whats an "f&e"?
Whats a header tank?
Once I find these in the loft (at least i know what one of those are!) what am I lookin for?

Cheers

 

[kevplumb]

f&e Feed and Expansion (the bit that puts the water in) black plastic tany approx 18"" x 9"" x 18""
2 same thing diff name
3 lack of water in either of above

if your stuck SHOUT ill stay with it

 

[Gareth73]

Thanks for the info.

Have had a few Stellas, so will leave the sumit climbing until tomorrow.

So I'm looking for lack of water in this big black tank? Weird how lack of water in that could result in luke warm water out of me taps. Is there some kind of mix that occurs somewhere then, where perhaps theres not enough hot water mixing with the cold ???

 

[kevplumb]

if you can afford stella you are in a better job than me the tank is usually the smaller of the two
if theres not enough water in the primary side (dont ask) you cant heat the secondary
think of pipe in a loop and you only fill it ti 1/2 " over the bottom of the pipe
aint going to do much

 

[Gareth73]

if you can afford stella you are in a better job than me the tank is usually the smaller of the two
if theres not enough water in the primary side (dont ask) you cant heat the secondary
think of pipe in a loop and you only fill it ti 1/2 " over the bottom of the pipe
aint going to do much

Yeah. That kinda makes sense, or at least enough for me to know what to look for!!.

Many thanks for the help mate. Will check things out tomorrow. Assuming I find a lack of water, can I just get a bucket and fill it up to the required level ???

 

[kevplumb]

dont need to press the ballvalve down if it is empty and starts filling change the ball valve

 

[ChrisR]

Also, you may have an air vent device in your airing cupd where the boiler pipes come in to the HW cylinder. Try operating it. May need rad valve key or small spanner or similar.

 

[Gareth73]

Apparently I dont have a feeder tank in the loft? Went across the road to ask someone if i could borrow their torch. He told me the fella who owned the house before me spent £700 odd quid putting a new system in and that "it comes from the mains", whatever that means. Think he was referring to the water supply?

Also, my next door neighbours seem to be having the same problems. Whats going on here

 

[kevplumb]

can you describe or take a pic or airing cupboard ?

 

[Gareth73]

Yep....

How do I upload them onto here?

 

[kevplumb]

see forum information