Not enough hot water.

[chris765]

Hi all,

We live in a ground floor flat. We have a Baxi Megaflow boiler and what seems like a large storage tank (see pics).

We only get enough hot water to quarter fill a bath, or for a few minute shower before the hot water dries up. The boiler will kick in about 1min after the water has been turned on.

When we leave the boiler to refil and heat up, we get no pressure at any of the tabs, just a little dribble. The only solution is to put the shower on (a power shower) and it seems to pull the water through (although not ideal as for 15secs we're running it dry). And then we have pressure at all the taps.

So we have 2 problems, not much water and no pressure when we've used the little water.

Is this normal, are we being greedy and is there any easy solution?
Thanks in advanced.

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[Hugh Jaleak]

Looks like you have a 'Fortic' type cylinder. These are hot water cylinder and cold storage tank combined, however the cold storage section is fairly small, so would limit use of a power shower before the water runs out.

I assume you are saying the taps run dry? (Not a case of hot water runs out to be replaced by cold water?) That symptom suggests there may be some restriction preventing the water from getting to the taps, i'd check there is sufficient water in the cold section at the top and the ballvalve is working correctly. Also check the gate valve usually fitted near the outlet from the cylinder, it is fully open. If it keeps turning and does not reach a stop then possible it could be sheared internally and is only partially open.

The boiler should keep the contents of the hot section at set temperature, turning it on wont assist in getting the water to the taps. Once the initial contents of the cold section is emptied then hot flow will slow to whatever rate the cold can refill at, but shouldn't run completely dry so quickly....