No Hot Water can anyone help?

[davereid1]

Hi Everyone,

As the subject suggests I have a real issue, no hot water.

I have moved into a house recently which is around 9 years old.

I have a hot water cylinder in the upstairs bathroom and cold water storage tank in the loft which feeds the cylinder and all taps with the exception of the kitchen which comes off the mains water.

My cold water pressure is ok but not great ( but have spoken with a few of the neighbours) the pressure in our estate is average.

The real problem is with the hot water everywhere in the house. It will run for a few secs and then stops. I have this problem with all basins, bath , shower( the shower is a mixer shower and will run if cold but as soon as you move the mixer to hot the water stops). If I turn on more than 2 hot water taps at the one time then no hot water taps/shower will run anywhere in the house. The bolier is working so I am getting hot water and hot radiators. I have had a heating engineer and plumber out and both are at a loss as to why this is happening.

They replaced the ball cock in the storage tank which has improved the cold water pressure - They have checked all visible piping for leaks which they couldn't find any. The last thing they tried was to isolate the water supply to the extension which comprises the utility room and downstairs bathroom) to see if there was leak to the piping there, but it made no difference to the hot water pressure around the house.

I am now waiting on a 2nd plumber coming out -

Has anyone shared something similar or think they have an idea of what the problem may be?

Cheers

Dave

 

[Burnerman]

The cold water tank in the loft supplies the hot water copper cylinder down below.....the water enters at the lowest cylinder connection, and the hot water flows out of the top of the cylinder.
It also sounds like this tank has a second outlet to feed the cold taps.
So, if cold water cant flow into the cylinder (due to blockage, maybe at the bottom of the loft tank) then hot can't run out.....likewise if the hot outlet is blocked somewhere you'll get the symptoms you have.
John

 

[kbdiy]

FWIW I can't really see why replacing the ballcock in the cold water storage tank would improve anything except fill the tank a little faster.

As above, if you have hot water in the cylinder but can't get anything out at the taps then there has to be a blockage in the feed from the cold water tank to the bottom of the cylinder. I'm not a plumber but that sounds like the most basic of faults to diagnose.

 

[davereid1]

Thanks guys - Yeah a blockage would make sense tbh. But surely between a heating engineer and plumber they would come to that conclusion too.

They have made the suggestion of moving all cold water to mains, back filling the hot water tank one even suggested putting in a combi boiler.

Dave

 

[Burnerman]

It is possible that there is an air lock somewhere, but its not usual that every tap is affected, unless the air lock is very close to the top outlet of the tank!
Forcing mains pressure cold water back through a hot tap is the time honoured way of clearing difficult air locks - often enough you can hear a rumble as the air clears.
I don't think your plumbers are trying very hard really - and the combi boiler option is a joke!
If you are happy that water is flowing out of the cold loft tank, I think you have to break into a joint somewhere near the copper cylinder top outlet, and see what flows.....which could be messy! Consider the air lock issue first though - but there's no need for this to occur unless there has been some work done on your system recently.
John

 

[kbdiy]

Ok so re-reading your post, has this ever worked properly since you moved in?

 

[davereid1]

One of the plumbers said he ruled out an air lock as hot water is at first coming out and then water flow stops. He said if it was an airlock no water would run at all. No work done recently that I know of. I moved into this house 10 days ago and since then it was gradually got worse. I phoned the fella I bought the house from and he said he had no issues with water flow/pressure except that the utility room water pressure has always been low. I think this has been an on- going problem probably the reason why wanted to sell so fast .

The cylinder is located in a cupboard in the bathroom. When you run the hot water particularly in the bath you can hear a noise from one of the pipes from the loft going to the cylinder which sounds as if the water is really struggling to pass.

Dave

 

[kbdiy]

Can you follow the run of the pipe from the bottom of the cylinder to the bottom of the cold water tank? Any valves (would expect to find at least one somewhere in the run) that might be partially closed to cause a problem? Would have expected your plumber to have checked that already but you never know

 

[tincup]

Hi

The neck of the hot water tank would be the place to start. Limescale build up or a blockage is the most likely causes.

 

[CBF]

One of the plumbers said he ruled out an air lock as hot water is at first coming out and then water flow stops. He said if it was an airlock no water would run at all

Time to find a new "plumber" & one that actually knows what he is talking about, your quote above is a classic sign of an air lock, really how do some of these muppets have the nerve to call themselves plumbers

 

[Agile]

Exactly!

A little water coming out is typical of an air lock.

With many you even get a slow flow all the time too.

The FAQ on this site might show you how you can see if you can DIY if you have a shower mixer.

Or cold mains can be fed up the hot water at the kitchen sink if you have a mixer tap there.

Some air locks can be quite time consuming to clear!

Tony

 

[bellairaphon]

Take the cold feed off the washing machine. Attach it to the hotwater isolation valve for the washing machine then turn them both on. After about 5-10 secs turn them off and try your hw.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Cleared an airlock as part of a survey for a new boiler for some friends the other day.

First one in ages. Reminded me of the good old days of simple call outs to simple systems.

They were so grateful they went for the extra options on the boiler quote including a £600 water softener

All I used to clear the airlock was my thumb.

OP - you have had some serious muppet round if he thinks that a trickle of water rules out an airlock

 

[davereid1]

Hi Guys, since you were all kind enough to reply I think I will share with you that I now have hot flowing water.

Got a new plumber out and first of all the 2 x gate valves needed replacing as they were just spinning around both clockwise and anti clockwise.

Shower sorted by removing the tight airlock.

Real problem was that stones were in the mains water pipe which have since been removed and hey presto enjoyed hot bath for the first time in 2 weeks.

He finished up by saying moving forward a combi boiler would be a lot better than the current set up and the previous plumbers were a bunch of monkeys.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Burnerman]

We appreciate the update Dave, and pleased you are sorted!
Do you really want a combi boiler?
John