I've just done a bodge job on replacing an immersion heater, cable and switch for my hot water cylinder, as a backup to the gas heated water. The old one was completely corroded through meaning it was tripping the RCCB, and the wire and switch was unsafe.
I had a devil of a time trying to drain enough water from the tank to be able to remove the old heater, and managed to leak water everywhere and make a right mess.
In the end, I had just about everything turned off, and what I think is the cold feed from the cold tank in the loft blocked using a cork, as well as turning the tap off on the pipe (probably furred up / broken), but the cylinder still seemed to be staying full with the hot taps on. I ended up connecting a hose to what seemed like a drain at the bottom, and draining it whilst swapping out the element, which seemed to at least mean it wasn't filling as fast as it was empting. I'm sure it would have been hilarious to watch for anyone who knows what they're doing.
All the electric work was fine though (It's mainly the plumbing I don't understand), and after a lot of clean up, I've (I think / hope) reopened all the valves / taps / magic plumbing bits, and switched on the new immersion for a quick go to test it.
I've now got lovely hot water in all the downstairs sinks (after a bit of gurgling and spurting - I assume the pipes had air in them). Lovely hot water in the shower (which has some kind of evil pump device in the loft).
The upstairs bathroom sink (which is on the same level as the hot water tank) has hot water - but only a dribble. It's always been a bit rubbish, but I seem to have done something to make it worse.
Is there anything obvious I should check? maybe some kind of airlock in the pipes? Have I forgotten to turn something on? Might there be gremlins in the fooglebinder?
The only reason I've got away with such incompetence so far is that my other half is away for the weekend - otherwise professionals would have no doubt been called in by now, and I'd have missed this great learning opportunity...
I had a devil of a time trying to drain enough water from the tank to be able to remove the old heater, and managed to leak water everywhere and make a right mess.
In the end, I had just about everything turned off, and what I think is the cold feed from the cold tank in the loft blocked using a cork, as well as turning the tap off on the pipe (probably furred up / broken), but the cylinder still seemed to be staying full with the hot taps on. I ended up connecting a hose to what seemed like a drain at the bottom, and draining it whilst swapping out the element, which seemed to at least mean it wasn't filling as fast as it was empting. I'm sure it would have been hilarious to watch for anyone who knows what they're doing.
All the electric work was fine though (It's mainly the plumbing I don't understand), and after a lot of clean up, I've (I think / hope) reopened all the valves / taps / magic plumbing bits, and switched on the new immersion for a quick go to test it.
I've now got lovely hot water in all the downstairs sinks (after a bit of gurgling and spurting - I assume the pipes had air in them). Lovely hot water in the shower (which has some kind of evil pump device in the loft).
The upstairs bathroom sink (which is on the same level as the hot water tank) has hot water - but only a dribble. It's always been a bit rubbish, but I seem to have done something to make it worse.
Is there anything obvious I should check? maybe some kind of airlock in the pipes? Have I forgotten to turn something on? Might there be gremlins in the fooglebinder?
The only reason I've got away with such incompetence so far is that my other half is away for the weekend - otherwise professionals would have no doubt been called in by now, and I'd have missed this great learning opportunity...
