I think I have an airlock which is preventing hot water being produced. If I understand the system correctly there is a coil which goes up the centre of my hw storage tank (no combi boiler yet) this carries hot water from my cent heating and acts like the element in a kettle (heats up the water around it in the tank) The pump is directly below the tank with a 22mm pipe going straight up which either goes into the tank or up the bedroom radiators and comes back down through the tank using gravity.

The 22mm pipe (comes directly from the pump) gets hot but appears to cool down just before it passes through the ceiling. I think this is where the airlock is. The only other alternative is that I need to turn on a radiator other than the bathroom to get the water to circulate through the tank.

Any ideas welcome it's driving me bl**dy mad as we've had no hot water for 4 days!:huh: :confused: :suspect:

ahhhh, have a look on tinternet for pumps just to check this is true, but I think you'll find you have a pump that has 2 functions (effectively 2 pumps in one) otherwise you wouldn't be able to have just hot water in the summer.

My mum's house had this problem, and some bright spark rigged up the pump to divert the water through the hot tank when it should have been doing the rads, so the pump burned itself out overdoing it (or something)

Or you could be right....

thanks Strix, there is a motorised valve in the circuit which is set to auto and hasn't been moved since I moved in 20 years ago.

I can hear a lot of bubbles going through the pump and occasionally I open the vent on the pump and let some out which makes it go quiet for a while

you don't have a leak anywhere else in the system do you?

How did the air get in in the first place? Is it still getting in?

there is no leak that I can find, no idea how air gets in but I've always had to bleed the rads regularly. This is an old system which will hopefully be replaced at some point in the very near future, I just need to get it back for the time being otherwise I can't wash the pots :hihi:

Good excuse to get a dishwasher if you ask me ;)

Do you know how much more efficient it is to wash the pots in a dishwasher?
Loads less water, and loads less heating, but higher wash temperatures and cleaner dishes :thumbsup:



do you have a header tank? is it full? is it's valve stuck?

got a dishwasher but also got lots of nice hand thrown pots as well so not dw safe

will check header tank later and report back,

sings ...."you and me against the world, sometimes it seems like you and me against ....."

The plumbers are all out working at the mo

You'll probably get a better answer after 6 ;)

that's why I tried calling the Dr but he just told me to throw two aspirin in the tank and call him in the morning if it's no better :)

I've pm'd you. :)

the pipe going up into the loft is your expansion pipe , should start to get cold above the level of the cylinder.
turn your timer on to hot water only, does the pump/boiler start to work?
if they do, is hot water going into your cylinder, (from the valve to the cylinder)
if not try ajusting the cylinder stat,(stat should be set at 60-65c) seeing if that starts the system working,
post your results please.

hagueok thanks for the explanation of the 22mm pipe that makes sense (found a diagram in a book which pretty much said the same) the pump/boiler does run when timer set to hot water only. forgive my ignorance but where/what is the cylinder stat?

last night I checked the header tank was full and ball valve working correctly(thanks Strix) I checked the boiler to make sure the outlet pipe from the bolier was getting hot and there were no leaks (it's in a space under the floor of the bathroom)

you remember that scene in Fawlty Towers where he beats the car for breaking down? well it's become a bit of an unhealthy obsession now so I've called in british gas under an insurance policy we have

I will post their findings early next week, thanks to all feel free to add to this but I'm out of the office quite a bit over the next few days so may not respond

thanks to everyone who replied. Brit Gas have been out today nice bloke, very quickly identified two possible problems

- the pipes have reacted over a period of time with the water (like your arteries furring up)
- air block

he turned off the thermostat on the boiler so the water actually boiled which fired water out of the overflow at the back of the house and made a horrible banging noise. He then went to the tank and tapped on the pipe where the hot water system enters the tank. Sure enough after a couple of very loud gurgles water/air came through and I've been able to wash the pots :)

thanks to everyone who replied. Brit Gas have been out today nice bloke, very quickly identified two possible problems

- the pipes have reacted over a period of time with the water (like your arteries furring up)
- air block

he turned off the thermostat on the boiler so the water actually boiled which fired water out of the overflow at the back of the house and made a horrible banging noise. He then went to the tank and tapped on the pipe where the hot water system enters the tank. Sure enough after a couple of very loud gurgles water/air came through and I've been able to wash the pots :)

Was he wearing a stetson and spurs. That sounds like a very scientific approach. :D

If it works then who cares? :)

If it works then who cares? :)
Because he didnt find the problem, he merely cured a symptom.
Its a clever trick, you get it working, then it goes wrong again a few days or weeks later. So you get called out again, and again and again.
They are called 'call backs' and the customer should not have to pay.
A properly designed and maintained system does not airlock for no reason.
It is the responsibility of the heating engineer to find out what the problem is.
Mind you it was BG. From what I understand, if you want a boiler service, they just check the efficiency, and if it is OK, they call that a service!!

Whatever matey, I'm not going to get drawn into this argument of 'I'm right you're wrong and I know more than you' because the majority of threads like this degenerate into these sort of petty discussions.

Have a nice day. :)

Was he wearing a stetson and spurs. That sounds like a very scientific approach. :D

Thanks for replying Pauly.

FYI Artisan - If you knew the situation in my house at the moment I would welcome your "constructive" comments, but you don't, so please don't post aggresively. The existing boiler will be replaced in the coming weeks with a new combi, the call out from BG was f.o.c. under a maintenance agreement I have with them and did not cost me a penny on the day.

The outcome for my family is that we could have a bath and we could wash the pots which are not dishwasher proof. If you can't post something other than a rant about how bad BG are then don't bother. Good to know that the good people of the Artisan household will never have to suffer at the hands of any charlatan trying to charge them for sorting out a problem .....I guess you must take a lot of time of work examining the work done around your house and quizzing those working for you?

Thanks for replying Pauly.

FYI Artisan - If you knew the situation in my house at the moment I would welcome your "constructive" comments, but you don't, so please don't post aggresively. The existing boiler will be replaced in the coming weeks with a new combi, the call out from BG was f.o.c. under a maintenance agreement I have with them and did not cost me a penny on the day.

The outcome for my family is that we could have a bath and we could wash the pots which are not dishwasher proof. If you can't post something other than a rant about how bad BG are then don't bother. Good to know that the good people of the Artisan household will never have to suffer at the hands of any charlatan trying to charge them for sorting out a problem .....I guess you must take a lot of time of work examining the work done around your house and quizzing those working for you?
I never need to employ any one to work in my house, as I am qualified in and have a lifetime of experience in most trades needed for household and industrial work. :cool:
the only time I would use some one else would be for plastering work. And then it would be someone I knew.
I am a firm believer in the adage 'if you want a job doing properly then do it yourself'
Half of the lads I see in my daily work, I would not trust to go to the toilet on their own, nevermind work in my house. :(

Artisan you're a very lucky man unfortunately I'm neither part p or corgi registsred