Central heating is working but no hot water. Back boilers working tank problems?

[Anna690]

Hello,

Hopefully someone can help!

I moved into my house in September 2012. No hot water but the central heating is working fine and the back boiler fires with no problems.

I had my friend from work come over to climb in the loft theres two tanks 1 with nothing but a small puddle of dirty water in the bottom which doesnt look like its been used for sometime and another which is half full of clear cold water. The property was unoccupied for around 6 months before i bought it so under the terms of an insurance policy the hot water tank should have been drained but the empty dirty tank doesnt look like its been used for some time.

We did add about 8Litres of water to the half full tank and this fixed the hot water situation untill last week.

My friend came round once again and added about 15 litres of water to the tank and i had hot water for a night and its gone again.

Just under the tanks in the loft is a bedroom with another tank (airing cupboard i guess) the pipes are hot and nothing has been touched to turn off or close any valves. The system is very old and i cant see any motors so im thinking its a gravity flowed system.

No wet patches in the ceiling so no leaks from the tanks from what i can see. Problem is i dont know if the water level has gone down because i cant get up in the loft to look (need to buy a ladder i know!)

Any suggestions would be great, Thank you!

 

[Dannyparty92]

The smaller dirty tank will be your feed and expansion tank which feeds your heating but as you said your heating is working that irelivent even though you state it is empty :s. anyhow is there any kind of silver box on the pipe work near the hot water cylinder it would be after your pump? Or is the heating just fully pumped and gravity hot water?

 

[Simon F]

hello Anna, welcome to the forum.
why did the f+e tank need topping up/ does it not have a water supply controlled by a float valve?
there are lots of possible issues, blockages, air locks, control/valve issues.
more detailed description and pictures would be useful.
probably best to get someone to call round and try to diagnose this.

 

[Crinkmeister]

If the F&E is empty, I wonder just how much water is circulating. Maybe there is a big air lock stopping the flow round the heating circuit in your hot water tank. Which tank were you topping up -the big one or the smalll one?

 

[Anna690]

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for replying.

The guy who came round used to be a plumber and he was scratching his head most the time. He put water in the big tank and there are float valves in both tanks.
My radiators make loads of noise when the heating comes on im guessing this is because there is hardly any water circulating from the central heating tank? :S

Iv taken a few pictures of the ho****er tank in the airing cupboard no silver box or pump. I cant take any pictures of the loft tanks until tomorrow will need to borrow next doors ladder being 5,4 and having slightly higher ceilings + no ladder isnt doing me any favours at the moment.

Just uploading photos

 

[Dannyparty92]

Yeah some pictures would help lots .

 

[Crinkmeister]

F&E float valve seized up, hence no water in little tank, probably no inhibitor either, so a couple of gallons of sludged up up water doing its best to heat the rads. The noise will be the air gurgling round the rads. If hot water is gravity, then that would have packed up first.

 

[Anna690]

 

[Dannyparty92]

Can't see the flow and return pipes just the feed and vent. You have a back boiler?

 

[Anna690]

Yep its an old back boiler so i have no hot water controlls that im aware of.

 

[Dannyparty92]

Are the two pipes going into the hot water cylinder 28mm ie big ish pipes? They will be one going in at the bottom then another one half way up directly above the bottom one.

 

[Anna690]

Theres one big pipe that feeds down from the ceiling directly into the boiler which is in picture 2 with the blue cover.
Theres another 2 small pipes coming down from the ceiling which lead into the group of pipes in picture 3. which then lead into the boiler - first one in the top, second 3 quarters of the way up and the third a quarter of the way up :S
The biggest pipe looks like the one in the last pic which is on a funny angle which leads into the bottom end of the tank.

 

[Anna690]

Sorry yes there are two, one directly above the other which look like the biggest ones there.

 

[Dannyparty92]

You have gravity hot water then. As crinkmeister as said that would have packed up first.

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

Probably looking at a new boiler and cylinder, upgrade to fully pumped, powerflush. Your old system is old and ineffcient, throwing good money after bad if you spend too much tring to fix it

 

[stevetheplumber]

the small tank in the loft needs to be half full of water if there is a ballvalve in it and its dry its either
turned of some where
seized in the up position( ball float in mid air )
blocked
get a plumber to check this out

 

[R1CKY]

Probably looking at a new boiler and cylinder, upgrade to fully pumped, powerflush. Your old system is old and ineffcient, throwing good money after bad if you spend too much tring to fix it

Bit extreme for what probably is just a knackered ball valve!

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

Bit extreme for what probably is just a knackered ball valve!

Nah, probably well knackered by now

 

[Whyme]

Get a plumber in to change your float valve that fills the little tank and see how you go before anything drastic. welcome btw.