Air lock maybe?

[mutley racers]

Hi guys, I have just had a call from a customer saying that she has no hot water. As in any water coming out of the hot tap at all. A mate of mine told her to put a hose from the mains onto the washing machine connection hot valve and feed back up hot. This helped but only lasted for a couple of days. Now there is no hot water again.

So i am going to have a look tomorrow. Am thinking that air is getting drawn in some where? Blockage or bad pipework. She has a back boiler she says. But am sure that can't have anything to do with it. Or could it?

Can anyone give me any advice on what to look out for?

Thanks fellers

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

try with the basics first is the ballvalve partly blocked?

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i agree start with ball valve and go from there

 

[gassafe]

I had the same call few weeks back, the ball valve was only just trickling out... so like the guys say, start there =]

 

[mutley racers]

thanks chaps, will let you know how it goes

 

[PLUMB-KING]

Yup ball valve or ball cock as some plumbers call them.

Having no water in the cold water storage tank will also affect the hot water from not running,Sometimes trying to explain this to a customer can be quite a task,if they really have no idea how their plumbing system works...:-/

 

[LF Heating]

Yeah ball valve stuck causing water level in tank to drop to then cause air lock. Aswell as back filling from main you can also pull through from tap if you have an aqua vac. Works 9 times out of 10 and takes two minutes

 

[mutley racers]

well guys, I went to the custards house this morning and flushed the mains up the hot. It works fine for a bit but then just trickles out. So, i look in the airing cupboard to see if one of the gate valves is partially closed? There are none. So i say to the custard, wheres the hatch for the loft? She says its out on the landing but i wont be able to get in because it is a council house and they lock it. I explain to her that there might be a blockage on the ball valve and explain what this causes, she does not really understand, like you guys say they don't. She then goes on to explain to me that the council were updating the cwsc in loft to new ones and that the problem started from then. Wow, i was upset. So now i was not able to do anything apart from tell her to get the council back. So now i could not charge her. I was not happy. I traveled 9 miles for this job. Booo

 

[mutley racers]

Nooooooooo and now to top it all off, she has just text me to say i have left my wide mouth spanner there. I don't belieeeeeeve it!!!!!!

 

[dancinplumba]

bad day at the office muley....

 

[mutley racers]

thats exactly it dancin plumber. A nightmare. It cost me 10 quid in petrol to get there and back