Luke warm water..

[ray316]

Untill yestaday l was getting hot water, l put the central heating and hot water on yestaday and the radiators got hot but the water only got luke warm..
Went to the airing cupboard and noticed l have two pipes coming out of the hot water cylinder and these were cold..
Can someone suggest what could be the problem as l need to get this done a.s.a.p . Thanks

 

[warmadmax]

Could do with some more details on your heating layout.

for now have a look on the pipework near the hot water cylinder,
there should be a metal (or plastic) box with a wire coming off on a brass connector,
this is a zone valve.

there are a few types of heating layout, normally it's one of two types.

if the box is on a "T" of pipe, then this is usually a mid position valve
if not on a "T" then there are usually a couple of these, look for the one that feeds into a pipe near the bottom half of the cylinder.

on the zone valves, there should be a lever on the side you can slide over,
while the heating is running, slide it over to open it up and see if the pipework gets hot to the cylinder.

if it does then you've got a faulty zone valve or tank thermostat,
the other guys on here should be able to help diagnose whats up with a bit of information from you.

 

[Armo74]

Faulty zone valve. If it is a 3 way valve it is probably stuck in the central heating only position. If you have 2 zone valves the motor has more than likely gone in the one for hot water. Could do with knowing how many you have because that will determine the diagnosis.

 

[ray316]

Faulty zone valve. If it is a 3 way valve it is probably stuck in the central heating only position. If you have 2 zone valves the motor has more than likely gone in the one for hot water. Could do with knowing how many you have because that will determine the diagnosis.

It's a "S" Plan system with 2 honeywell valves and the lever is sloppy with no resistance with the boiler on or off..
If the valve is stuck shut is there anyway l can get it open to get the hot water flowing.
They are old valves as l've been in this house since the early 90's and they was in then.. Can l take the cover off to examine the inside as l'm sure l read somewhere that they can get stuck in the closed position and taken the cover off and putting a bit of WD4O on the mechanism sometimes works..
Is this correct or any idea's how l can check if this is the fault and ways to get the valve to open..

 

[Armo74]

You can remove the actuator depending on what model it is and it will reveal a spindle which should turn a little left to right, do not apply to much pressure or you may encourage a leak. Remember to isolate the electricity supply.

 

[ray316]

You can remove the actuator depending on what model it is and it will reveal a spindle which should turn a little left to right, do not apply to much pressure or you may encourage a leak. Remember to isolate the electricity supply.

Is there anyway for me to find out if i can take the actuator off on this model. E.g model number on valve or markings..
If l cannot take the actuator off can l still take the cover off,
by taking the cover off can l still see if there's a problem with the valve..

 

[warmadmax]

before you take the cover off,
make sure you turn everything off / remove the fuse as you'll more than likely be exposing mains voltage.

the honeywell zone valve i had, you had to remove the cover then there where two screws on the bottom plate to remove it from the valve.

best thing you can do is take some pictures,
it's easy enough to add them when you reply... just click "upload new images"

afterwards click "show my images", will show albums, then click the thumbnail to add it to the post

 

[ray316]

Having read about these 2 port valves l'm quite certain this is the old type as the silver cover does not have a raised bump on the top.
So taking the actuator out without draining the system seems out of the question, but can l buy the parts for the insjde of the valve and leave the valve body in place once l drained the system as the valve is in a difficult position to get off and it would be easily to just replace the insde components..
If l can do this what will l need to get and how much roughly would it cost..

 

[ray316]

could do with some answers to my last post please..

 

[ray316]

Sorry folks these don't look like Honeywell 2 port valve, anyone know if replacing these with Honeywell will be ok without any pipe adjustments needed.