Water doesnt seem to stay hot

[mazzab]

I will get hubby to check the thermostat thing when he gets home from work

After the waters been on, all 3 pipes coming from/leading to the tank are hot, and for as long as the one at the top is hot, the water is hot. (this probably isnt relevant but thought I'd mention it!!)

 

[mazzab]

Well having got nowhere since the last posting, I reread all the postings and realised that there could be a leak in a pipe between the hot water tank and the taps (I misread it before to read between the boiler and the hot water tank). We have now found out that some of the hot water pipes are hot even when no taps have been turned on recently. One of these pipes goes down into the concrete.......

Also when we turn a hot tap on in the bathroom the hot water seems to be there instantly - the bathroom taps are nearest to the tank but surely the water should need to run for a short whilst coming from the tank to the tap?

I'm a bit worried about what would happen if we did decide the water was leaking out from a pipe in concrete..... can anyone tell me???

Thanks

 

[gas4you]

Have you a water meter? If so turn all taps off and watch the dial. it will move with the slightest or dripping.

Also can you here any water filling constantly in the cold tank in the loft/

If leak in floor then either dig up floor and replace or re-pipe from cyl to hot tap

 

[chrishutt]

Right what you may have is a leak on the pipes to hot taps , do any of the pipes go under concrete or floorboards downstairs

Well, namsag got there straight away.

 

[Softus]

I'm a bit worried about what would happen if we did decide the water was leaking out from a pipe in concrete..... can anyone tell me???

Two things would happen:

1. Part of the fabric of your house (a part which is supposed to be dry) would be wet.
2. Your boiler will be heating more water than necessary, costing both you and the planet more than necessary.

 

[namsag]

If you don`t see any damp patches . Make sure cylinder is hot and have a feel of the floor and see if you can feel any hot spots.

 

[stumpynut]

Take your bath panel off and check if the leak is under the bath (tap connector maybe). Worth a shot.

 

[Softus]

Good call by stumoynut.

And you could try these:

 

[ChrisR]

You can turn off or drain the supply from the loft cistern and get up to this sort of caper with a tumbler. If there's a leak the tumbler empties.

 

[mazzab]

Well, progress has been made....... we have discovered the leak!! It is going from the hot water tank to the tap as someone suggested. As luck would have it we found it very quickly as my potatoes were on the floor above the concrete and I couldnt work out why they were warm

Anyway OH dug down this morning and very quickly had a little hole full of water. Fortunately the damp proof course has helped to keep the concrete floor dry (ish). What he has done for now is put a stop on the end of the pipe (there was an elbow thing nearby) so now we have hot water upstairs but not downstairs - so I cant use my washing machine for now. What he is thinking of doing now is, rather than digging up the concrete to find the spot where its leaking, which would be somewhere under the middle of the kitchen floor, he is thinking to take the pipe round behind the kitchen cupboards, etc to join the other end of the pipe under the kitchen sink. Wont be easy as it will involve drilling through a wall thats about 1 foot thick (pantry wall into kitchen) and then try and push it round behind boiler, cupboards, dishwasher and more cupboards). Is it right that you arent supposed to put copper piping in concrete these days?? Makes perfect sense of course.... we are lucky we found the leak so quickly.

I'm putting a separate posting up about the loo, as before we found the leak we discovered another unrelated problem......

 

[gas4you]

washing machine will be ok on just cold fill. Most new ones only have a cold fill. They reckon it's more energy efficient.

Copper piping in concrete has been a subject of much debate here recently. I think that all copper should be protected against any contact with concrete to prevent reults as you have now got.

If pipe does not touch boiler, how about using plastic pipe as it is more flexible than copper

 

[mazzab]

OH did think of getting plastic piping but was a bit wary cos it will be going close to the boiler so he got copper piping.

Do you mean that even if our washing machine is hot and cold fill its ok to use it without the hot..... would the machine heat the water up?? I always use it on economy which washes at the temp of the hot water....

Thanks

 

[gas4you]

Washing machine should heat the water its self. It shouldn't progress on cylce until water is up to temp. Chances are that unless you run hot tap in kitchen first, the 'hot' water you think is going into machine is not hot as when it first asks for hot water it be be a cold 'slug' for a minute or so.

 

[mazzab]

OH has just said it would knacker the machine to run it without any water going in through the hot tap????

 

[gas4you]

Your decision! How about temporarily fitting a 'Y' fitting on the cold pipe to connect hot and cold to then to keep him happy!