Low running hot water from all hot taps. why??

[rui7]

Hi,

We have three bathrooms upstairs. All the sinks have uni-taps (runs both hot & cold water). The cold water flow is fine but the hot water from has been decreasing steadily over the past year. The showers hot and cold water flow is working fine.

We have a cold water storage tank in the loft and and copper cylinder tank in the hot press. The hot water is fed off the top if the cylinder tank.

Im presuming theres a separate pipe feeding off the cylinder for the showers and the problem lies with the pipe thats feeding off the cylinder for all the hot water taps upstairs and downstairs.

I dont think theres a problem with the taps themselves as when I first turn on the taps the flow is fine but then slows down. This suggests theres nothing wrong with the taps and the problem lies somewhere within the piping from the sinks back to the cylinder tank.

Am I right in saying the pipes could be coated with scale/sediment and thus reducing the flow of hot water or would it be something stuck within the piping? What are the remdedies and would this be an esy job to fix (DIY)??

Thanks,

Rui

 

[philtheflush]

wheres that pipe going to the other pipe that comes of the pipe where the pipe that runs under the pipe quite close to the pipe also right by the pipe near the cold mains PIPE

 

[PlumbBobBob]

you will have to back trace the pipework. the feed to the hot cylinder goes in the bottom of the cylinder maybe with drainoff on it, just follow it back up and you may be lucky and have a gate valve. although it may be up near the cold tank.

just had another look at the pics. to the right of the hot feed/vent is the cold feed to the cylinder it has a gate valve but without it's red handle. you can borrow the handle off the other larger gate valve to see if you can move it at all.

 

[rui7]

i see what ye mean, yeah if i remember correctly when i changed the element last year i used that valve to shut off supply to the tank. so if I shut that valve off, that will shut off the feed to the hot water taps. its starting to come together now!

 

[PlumbBobBob]

yes. it may be that the valve isn't open enough which would explain the slow running hot taps.

 

[Resolute]

That valve may have collapsed and need replacing too.

 

[rui7]

that cold feed valve is fully open. when i closed it fully the hot water was still running from the tap which is strange...

 

[PlumbBobBob]

it's broken and needs replacing

 

[rui7]

the cold tap flow fully stopped when i closed that valve fully but the hot tap flow continued to flow. The cylinder is very hot at the moment. Could it be that theres hot water in the cylinder and its continually expanding out from the top of the cylinder?