There was no handle on purpose to stop the valve being turned of
unintentionally as you found out.

--
regards
dave batter
www.kitchenman.co.uk
www.sxmitres.info
www.essex-sandivers.info
Skype me on kitchenmanuk
http://oneandone.co.uk/xml/init?k_id5568652

"Kevsy1" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi Pete, many thanks for the reply. The problem was that the
compression gate valve was closed - so by opening it with a spanner
(there was no red dial) hot water got into the cylinder from the
boiler. The mystery was that I hadn't closed the valve yesterday...I'd
only spun the nut which is there to retain the red dial on its thread?!
Anyway, all working now so thanks for your time!