Central heating OK but no hot water
 

Hi,
Any help much appreciated by this novice! Yesterday I had to change the
kitchen tap washers, so I shut off the rising main and turned off the
hot water supply. Although I eventually achieved this by locating and
turning off the hot water feed under the kitchen sink, I had originally
tried by closing the valves in the hot water cylinder airing cupboard
(noting and marking the original position of each, and turning them
back when that had no effect). Following the washer replacement I
reenabled the hot water supply to the kitchen. Yesterday evening and
this morning I heard a load throb from the plumbing (about 2-3
seconds), and only unheated water comes from any of the hot taps in the
house. Both water and central heating are controlled by an electronic
Honeywell timer which came on as usual yesterday evening and this
morning. The airing cupbaord pipe for the hot water is no longer warm,
tracing this back to the cylinder I cannot see an obvious valve , just
a large nut connecting the pipe to the top of the cylinder. Can anyone
think of anything I might have done to disable the hot water? ALl
suggestions very welcome!
Cheers
Kevin

The 'unusual' fixing I mentioned above is a compression gate valve
(BS5154) but dows not have the red turning dial on it! Just the loose
nut at the end. Turning this just makes the nut go up and down the
thread. (http://www.gofixit.co.uk/en-gb/dept_1289.html)

"Kevsy1" wrote in message
oups.com...
The 'unusual' fixing I mentioned above is a compression gate valve
(BS5154) but dows not have the red turning dial on it! Just the loose
nut at the end. Turning this just makes the nut go up and down the
thread. (http://www.gofixit.co.uk/en-gb/dept_1289.html)


I'm no plumber or even real DIYer but it sounds to me like the valve has got
stuck on hot water only? There is a 2 or 3 way valve which is operated by a
motorised switch and this switch turns the valve depending on whats
required - so, ie if its just hot water the motorised valve will turn the
valve to allow only hot water to run to the taps and when heating is
required it moves again to allow the flow of water just to the radiators. I
think tere is also a mid posistion to allow both if needed. In my mind I
think either the motorised switch has packed up or the valve that it turns
has got stuck.
Just my thoughts.

Good luck

So I
guess that's the problem, is there a good chance that I've damaged this
by overtightening it?


It may be stuck - half closed

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!

"Kevsy1" wrote in news:1128242615.721875.124780
@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

The 'unusual' fixing I mentioned above is a compression gate valve
(BS5154) but dows not have the red turning dial on it! Just the loose
nut at the end. Turning this just makes the nut go up and down the
thread. (http://www.gofixit.co.uk/en-gb/dept_1289.html)

Your hot water is driven, (in a vented system) by water from the cold
tank above entering the cylinder and pushing hot water out of the top.

This is where your handle-less gate valve is.

It sounds buggered, it certainly needs a handle.

To replace it you need to empty your cold water tank by turning off your
stopcock, and opeing the lowest tap in the house. (and any others for
speed)

You can then remove the gate valve by unscrewing the nuts, and fit a new
one.

It can be a good idea to leave the old nuts and olives(little collars) on
the pipe and just use the new body. If you're a wuss you can smear Fernox
LS-X on the olive to make sure of a watertight joint with the new body,
also a smear of grease on the threads acn help.

HTH

mike

This is where your handle-less gate valve is.

It sounds buggered, it certainly needs a handle.

I fergot to say, cause it was dinner time, that if you're lucky you may be
able to work it with grips on the stem of where the wheel useter be.

Try to grip the shaft; you can also try to unscrew the bigger nut at the
bottom to ease the shaft a bit. this may start to weep a bit, just
retighten it after you've got the valve open.

Aand of course, it's the cold taps you open. I fitted a drain cock at the
lowet point in the cold supply to your cylinder, if you're lucky you may
have one, which will cause less spillage when you replace the gate valve.

And when you replace it, consider doing it with a full bore lever operated
ball valve

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...81454&id=21289

(you can also get them in yellow!)

mike

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!