Hi everyone. I'm hoping someone can help. Water coming through the ceiling. I have a copper cylinder hot water tank in the bedroom with a back boilered open coal fire directly beneath it. Above the cylinder which also has an immersion fitted is an open cold water tank which connects to the hot tank. All fitted in the old fashioned floor to ceiling tank cupboard. All the pipework is dry but water is coming from the bottom of the hot water cylinder. I cannot find a cut off between the two tanks. Certainly not the general type anyway. In desperation with the kitchen ceiling collapsing I turned the main water off and drained both tanks. I now have no water supply and the last flush has gone :-( There is two nuts with a round peg sticking from the pipe between tanks. I cannot imagine it has ever been square and I don't know what to turn. At the bottom of the cylinder is what looks like a bleed valve similar to that on the bottom of a radiator. Could anyone advise me on such an old system and how I stop the flow to the hot water tank so I can at least have a water supply. Thank you.
It will be in the loft, just need to put a piece of wood across tank & tie up ball cock to stop tank refilling. A lot to be said for having a isolating valve on the cold feed to tank.
Loz, with your mains supply still offski, connect a hose to that draincock at the bottom of the tank, and open it up (after, er, making sure the other end of t'ose is outside (or down a bath or toilet). That will drain the hot cylinder and also empty the cold water tank that's supplying it. When you then trace which tank is the CWS (cold water supply) tank, by tracing the pipe which has that draincock back upwards until you arrive at it, you'll then need to ensure that that tank won't refill when the mains is turned back on. You do this in one of two ways - the ideal is to find an isolating valve on the (most likely) 15mm supply pipe to its ball cock, and turn that thro' 90o. If you cannot find one, then get a timber batten or similar - something that'll span the width of this tank along the top - and site it above the ball cock arm. Use a piece of string or wire to pull up the ballcock arm and secure it there. Make sure the string/wire is snugly pulling the arm up as far as it'll go and a tweak more, but don't over-stress it (don't bend the arm or distort the tank side!) Turn the water back on and the CWS and the hot cylinder should remain empty. Leave the hose connected and the draincock open in case the CWS should refill for some reason. Then call a plumber - via your home insurance (because this is gonna cost you £100's ) (New hot cylinder (most likely), repair to ceiling, redecorating etc etc.)
And if no isolating valve on cold feed to tank in loft, get the plumber to fit one while he is there. Gate valves are a PIA, full bore lever valves I say.
And if there isn't a 'gate' or 'full-bore lever' valve fitted on the 22mm pipe betwixt the CWS and the hot cylinder, fit one there too...
Thanks Lee. I'll climb up and have a look but I don't believe so. The feed to the tank comes out of the side of the plastic cold tank low down.
Gate valve, usually siezed & you can't turn them off. Full bore lever valve, usually a 1/4 turn operation.
Gate - http://www.screwfix.com/p/gate-valve-22mm/27542 Isolating - http://www.screwfix.com/p/isolating-valve-15mm-10-pack/32802 Full-bore lever - http://www.screwfix.com/p/full-bore-lever-ball-valve-22mm/30584
So this is old. Almost as old as myself. The fitting on the pipe is brass. Has a single nut facing forwards. 3-4 mm of thread and another identical nut on the top with a round peg only a a few millimetres in length. No handles and no driver slot
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