Central Heating problems...

[majorj0nny]

All of a suden I seem to have lost hot water from my hot water taps - water just runs cold no matter how long i leave the tap on for. the radiators in the house all work great - no probs.

in my hot water cylinder - am I right in assuming that the main bottom thick pipe is cold water in and the top thick pipe is the heated water out - and should be hot ? mine isnt? its cold too... the thin pipes that go into the cylinder (im assuming these are from the boiler) one is scalding hot - the other cold/luke warm...

Im confused !

 

[kevplumb]

check the f&e tank

 

[oilman]

You either have a blockage, or you have a dead valve, but you need to say more about your system before anyone can give you an answer. Read the poats at the top of the forum.

 

[majorj0nny]

The whole system seems to be old ... the house is about 25 years old of more, so we are not talking anything fancy.

I have a Baxi Solo 2 40RS? which has a pump above it, the boiler and pump are switched on and off by the timer unit, the boiler only seems to have one hot water out (ie - it cant destinguish between CH water and hot tap water?), theres a hot water cylinder upstairs in the stare room, a room stat controls a motorised valve which is brilliantly located under the floorboards on the landing - this valve seems to just have the ability of ON and OFF ! ... Only 2 pipes go into this, when the whole system is on usually there is ALWAYS hot water - I cant switch this off and have JUST CH, the radiators will only come on after the stat opens the motorized valve letting hot water through to the rad system. The rads use microbore pipes.

How hot does the cylinder get ? and what does it mean if it does not get hot atall ?

from what I can tell the hot water cylinder just does not seem to be heating up? I have 2 thick pipes going into the cylinder - one is from what I can only assume cold water tank in the loft, thats at the very bottom... at the very top another thick pipe comes out - I assume this should be the 'heated' hot tap water out ?, im sure this used to be very hot in the past when the system is on? now its very luke warm, verging on cold. the hot water cylinder also has 2 thin pipes going into it that Im assuming are the hot water from the boiler that heats the cylinder water? one of these is very hot when the system is on, one very cold.... I suppose the heat is dispersed into the cylinder water and the thin pipe out wouldnt be 'as' hot as the pipe in... but would it be cold? does this indicate a blockage in the coil inside the cylinder perhaps ?

there is a bleed pipe coming off the 'cold' thin pipe at this location and when turned it released 'some' air... then a little water so I tightened it again... there wasnt a difference in the heat of this pipe so i released the bleed valve again and more air came out - then no air OR water ???? tightened again and released and water started coming out?

to illustrate -

A = this is the bleed valve I have been talking about

B = thin pipe going into boiler - does not seem to get warm ?

C = thin pipe going into boiler thats RED HOT

D = thick pipe coming out of top hot water cylinder (hiding behind thin pipe B in pic) - does not get hot?

E = what would the function of this tap be ?

F = this is the cold water pipe that goes into the bottom of the cylinder

hope this helps?

 

[kevplumb]

you have what is known as a microversion whigh screws into the immersion boss would think its got blocked with sludge etc
havent seen one of those for years
is valve e open ?

 

[majorj0nny]

valve E is open most of the time .... is this the output of pipe C ?

if E is fully open I can release the thing ontop of A and a bit of air will come out followed by NOTHING.... infact I can take the screw off altogether .... if I then tighten E to close it completely water will pour out of A until I tighten it again.

its like the E open - wereever the pipe goes from E is just draining away ?

my pump would be working if my radiators are would it?

 

[kevplumb]

did you check the tank ?

 

[majorj0nny]

tanks seem find... big massive cold water one in loft is full and fills automatically when water is used and stoped as it should with ball cock thing... the little grotty CH tank is full too...

Plmbing p*sses me off - probably because I know nothing about it.

 

[kevplumb]

could be a blockage in the cold feed from the little tank

 

[majorj0nny]

ok after leaving the system on for a few hours I now seem to be getting hot water.... not very hot .,. but hot enough from the taps. However - Ive noticed that the radiators seems to be scalding hot .... even though some are either switched off on their own knobs? or turned down quite low ....

if my pump was either not working or low pressure (Ie - in its way out) what symptoms would this cause? would any heat get up from the boiler into the rads atall? could they get mega hot because of this? am I right in saying all the pump does is make the water in the whole system circulate around and around and radiators should therefore not get that hot ?

this is comfusing?

 

[kevplumb]

try leaving the system running on hw/ch and turn off the rad valves see what happens i would reccomend you put some sort of cleanser in the system

 

[oilman]

You have a blockage in the pipes. Somewhere near where the feed pipe meets the flow or return pipe. If it p1sses you off, get some one in to sort it. You will have to cut a pipe and clean it out then join it up again, THAT will really p1ss you off.