Changing Immersion heaters

[Plamber]

What a nightmare. i've had to change 2 already this week and have another to do tomorrow morning. the worst part of it is the cylinders are so old it takes nearly all day to do. draining down seems to last forever. then you have trying to remove the old immersion heater which usually takes forever due to them being so old.

However, if you losen them off while the tank is half full you dont need to struggle removing them from an empty tank.

Rant over

anyone got tips for removing them?

 

[wards]

i agree with loosening the heater whilst still full,but why does it take so long to drain?i usually turn off feed to header tank,open upstairs and downstairs h/w taps and bingo flow stops in no time.unless you are referring to side entry onesHTH
si

 

[Plamber]

yeah all the ones ive been doing (and doing tomorrow) are at the bottom of the cylinder. plus i'm changing them due to them being very old. so the cylinders are full of gunk and drains slowly.

Never a fun job

 

[stevetheplumber]

yeah all the ones ive been doing (and doing tomorrow) are at the bottom of the cylinder. Plus i'm changing them due to them being very old. So the cylinders are full of gunk and drains slowly.

Never a fun job

undo the vent and drop a piece of 15 mm tube in from the top connect hose and syphon the water out drain offs are next to uselees on older cylinders

 

[Plamber]

would do mate. However, these ones are tank and cylinder in one. in the smallest cupboard possible. will just have to make sure i bring my radio.
But yeah, siphoning the water out is MUCH faster than draincocks on older cylinders.

 

[Winston]

A drill pump can speed it up.

 

[kirkgas]

push some hose down the hot draw off to syphon rather than length of pipe if access is poor

 

[Plamber]

i would but the vent pipe is built in to the combination tank. i think im just going to have to drain it by the draincock.


Its strange, i havent had to change an immersion for about 3 or 4 months and now loads. funny how things happen like this.

 

[WHPES]

If the old draincock washers are stuck, I plug the tank and vent, bung up the draincock spout, have plenty of old towels under the draincock and poke the old washer out with a screwdriver then shove a fitting I made up from some fittings going from 3/8" BSP ( I think it was ) to a valve with a bit of15mm copper pipe on the end, into the body of the draincock. I shove a hosepipe on the end and remove the bungs in the tank outlet and vent.

 

[dontknowitall]

I did one recently with a blocked drain valve and had a major work out carrying my wet vacuum up and down stairs for about 10 trips.

Might poke the thing with 3/8" BSP, etc next time!

But then I don't mind losing a few inches off my tummy.

 

[GreenArmy]

If you can, stick your hand in top of combination tank and feel for cold feed at bottom of cw tank. Once found put your hand back in tank along with hose pipe and push/shove/feed hose pipe down cylinder (i always hold up hose pipe to cylinder first to see how far hose should go) then suck away and syphon.
Obviously run hot water off from taps first.

 

[quality]

Syphoning is the way on old or new tanks with dodgy drain off`s

getting the buggers out can be the real work -

My trick is I have got water pump pliers like we all have - but rather than the prefered ones that most folk use I bought a set from the snap on fella - 24 inch jaws that would bite ya , I can gaurantee myself they never fail - box spanner what box spanner

 

[stevetheplumber]

Syphoning is the way on old or new tanks with dodgy drain off`s

getting the buggers out can be the real work -

My trick is I have got water pump pliers like we all have - but rather than the prefered ones that most folk use I bought a set from the snap on fella - 24 inch jaws that would bite ya , I can gaurantee myself they never fail - box spanner what box spanner

not a lover of the box spanner my self the cast ones are best,sit on well and you can give it a good wack with the club hammer

 

[Plamber]

well i did it today and it was fine, was there 2 hours max. its was very old and the draincock was 15mm and i though, "damn this will take a while". but no drained the the cylinder in just under 30 mins. think i need a new immersion key though, the thin ones you buy are terrible. i had to get a shot of my electricians old cast iron one.

 

[charlie frederi]

you still need to drain the top part of the cylinder unless you want to cause a mess

 

[Plamber]

it drains along with the cylinder. you can speed it up a little by shutting the ballcock and running a hot tap.

 

[WHPES]

Had one to do with no drain cock. Just had to open the immersion carefully and use lots of old towels and have someone wringing them out for me.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

they are a right pain whichever way you do it,the 15 mm pipe down the hot outlet is often the best way to syphon but as you say no good with a combined cylinder

 

[Plamber]

we did one in a boiler room basement once. just opened it up and let it flow. had to move quick to avoid getting soaked.

 

[Alanka]

To clear a choked-up drain cock, I have blasted mains cold up it backwards via the hose to shift the crud.

(They don't like it up 'em!)