Help. I've changed a hot water tap and now I don't have any hot water. I've tried putting the cold feed into the hot feed but all that happened was the overflow pipe from the attic started leaking. Any help would be appreciated.
you have gravity fed hot water and pressure fed cold one, your new tap is not suitable for unbalanced feed
I mean I put isolation valves on then turned the water back on. but no hot water. I've got cold water.
yes, I thought so. So I put the mains feed into the hot water to blow it out but it hasn't worked. Any ideas
Do you mean stopcock to the loft tank ,or stopcock on the feed from the loft tank to the hot water cylinder ? If the latter ,is it a gate valve ( big red handle ) ?
Yes replace it with a lever operated, full bore valve. Gate valves are junk. If you overtightened ,when closing it ,the internal brass spindle snaps and the gate remains closed. Did you fit the gate valve ,if so replacing is the same procedure.
Definitely a gate valve. You will need to isolate the cold water supply to the loft tank ,and drain the loft tank. Either by siphoning with a hose pipe ,or bucket and sponge job. Is your cold water to bath from the loft tank ? If so run it and that will empty most ,but not all the loft tanks water. When you undo the gate valve ,be prepared ,with plenty of towels ,as quite a bit of water will still be in the pipe. Your hot water cylinder should have a drain cock ,low down near the bottom of it ,where the cold feed goes in. That can be used to lower the level of water in the cylinder ,but be aware the rubber seal in the drain cock can be stuck in position and makes the job more complicated if it is ,so I advise you to leave it alone. Is the gate valve higher on the pipework than the cylinders distribution pipe ( hot water outlet)? The higher it is ,the less water will run out when the gate valve is loosened. There are other ways to tackle the job ,like fitting a bung to the loft tanks outlets and expansion pipe,or freezing the pipes either side of the gate valve before removing it. Draining all the water out is your safest way.