Hi, this is the first time I'm having to deal with a water problem myself, so apologies if my description of the problem is slightly confusing...
Basically, it's a flat with an immersion heater/hot water cylinder (no gas in the building), fed by single mains cold input (15mm) coming down from above, with a stop tap thing, which shuts off all water in the flat, before it reaches anywhere else. The cold water goes into the cylinder at roughly 2/3 point (from bottom) of the cylinder, and the hot comes out a bit above that. Another branch of the cold mains is upsized to 22mm and it meets the hot output at a blending valve (or is it a pressure reducing valve?), which then feeds to all the hot taps/shower in the flat.
I've taken some photos of the cylinder and the pipes around it, which might be more helpful than the description:
http://www.randomfan.com/temp/cylinder/
I don't know much about the cylinder. The flat was built in 1989, it's probably best to assume that it has been around since then (18 years).
As far as I know the problem appeared more or less suddenly, the hot water pressure from everywhere just became really low. The cold is perfectly fine though.
Now, I've had several people looking at it already, but they all seem to have slightly different opinions, which makes it really hard for me to make decisions. The first person thought that it's the cylinder that needs replacing. Second person was fairly certain that it's the blending/pressure reducing valve, and was going to change that but he let me down in the end. Third person also was fairly certain it's the valve and I eventually got him to replace it, but it only made very minor improvement, and the pressure is still very poor. He also disconnected the valve from the outlet pipe, and the pressure there is about the same as the taps. The guy then went on to say that it's most likely limescale buildup inside, and it's more or less impossible to get them out, as when you use chemicals to remove them they'd just fall off in large chunks and cause blockage again. The recommendation was to just replace the cylinder. Got a fourth guy to have a look last night, and he had some different ideas - he didn't think it's limescale, but after pushing the cylinder around for a bit he thought that it felt as if the cylinder wasn't filling up properly, it felt only part full and could be pushed to move fairly easily.
Basically the decision I'm faced now is whether to carry on investigating into the possible cause, or just replace the whole thing? It's a tough choice if I have no idea of the relative probabilities of each case - if it is a case of the cylinder needs replacing, obviously spending more time trying to find a cause will just be a waste of money; but on the other hand replacing the cylinder will be a waste of money if it is just something causing the cylinder not to fill up properly? Nearly £200 has gone into this already, and one of the guys quoted me £800 inc vat to replace the cylinder. So if I keep throwing money into it I'll quickly have spent enough to be able to replace the cylinder anyway!
Do people think it's likely to be limescale for a cylinder of this age? There is no water softener in the system as far as I know. If it is limescale is that really difficult to remove? I've heard that the cylinder ought to be flushed down every year or two, but it's probably safe to assume that it's not been done (I've only had the place for a few months).
Additionally, if it does come to replacing the cylinder, are there any alternative set ups that I can consider which may work well and/or be easy to maintain?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Basically, it's a flat with an immersion heater/hot water cylinder (no gas in the building), fed by single mains cold input (15mm) coming down from above, with a stop tap thing, which shuts off all water in the flat, before it reaches anywhere else. The cold water goes into the cylinder at roughly 2/3 point (from bottom) of the cylinder, and the hot comes out a bit above that. Another branch of the cold mains is upsized to 22mm and it meets the hot output at a blending valve (or is it a pressure reducing valve?), which then feeds to all the hot taps/shower in the flat.
I've taken some photos of the cylinder and the pipes around it, which might be more helpful than the description:
http://www.randomfan.com/temp/cylinder/
I don't know much about the cylinder. The flat was built in 1989, it's probably best to assume that it has been around since then (18 years).
As far as I know the problem appeared more or less suddenly, the hot water pressure from everywhere just became really low. The cold is perfectly fine though.
Now, I've had several people looking at it already, but they all seem to have slightly different opinions, which makes it really hard for me to make decisions. The first person thought that it's the cylinder that needs replacing. Second person was fairly certain that it's the blending/pressure reducing valve, and was going to change that but he let me down in the end. Third person also was fairly certain it's the valve and I eventually got him to replace it, but it only made very minor improvement, and the pressure is still very poor. He also disconnected the valve from the outlet pipe, and the pressure there is about the same as the taps. The guy then went on to say that it's most likely limescale buildup inside, and it's more or less impossible to get them out, as when you use chemicals to remove them they'd just fall off in large chunks and cause blockage again. The recommendation was to just replace the cylinder. Got a fourth guy to have a look last night, and he had some different ideas - he didn't think it's limescale, but after pushing the cylinder around for a bit he thought that it felt as if the cylinder wasn't filling up properly, it felt only part full and could be pushed to move fairly easily.
Basically the decision I'm faced now is whether to carry on investigating into the possible cause, or just replace the whole thing? It's a tough choice if I have no idea of the relative probabilities of each case - if it is a case of the cylinder needs replacing, obviously spending more time trying to find a cause will just be a waste of money; but on the other hand replacing the cylinder will be a waste of money if it is just something causing the cylinder not to fill up properly? Nearly £200 has gone into this already, and one of the guys quoted me £800 inc vat to replace the cylinder. So if I keep throwing money into it I'll quickly have spent enough to be able to replace the cylinder anyway!
Do people think it's likely to be limescale for a cylinder of this age? There is no water softener in the system as far as I know. If it is limescale is that really difficult to remove? I've heard that the cylinder ought to be flushed down every year or two, but it's probably safe to assume that it's not been done (I've only had the place for a few months).
Additionally, if it does come to replacing the cylinder, are there any alternative set ups that I can consider which may work well and/or be easy to maintain?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
