hot water stopped running in second floor bathroom but not first floor bathroom

[Flamefoot]

Hi there everyone,

I've just returned from almost a fortnight abroad (and into this terrible weather) and my hot water supply has gone funny.

We live in a victorian semi (1890-ish) with a loft conversion so we have a bathroom on the first floor and one on the second floor (which was the loft)

Second floor - we've used this bathroom constantly since we moved in (august) and it's been brilliant - there's a big tub with a drench shower head above it and a sink and toilet.

HOWEVER since we got back the hot water supply has disappeared:
Turn on the bath or shower on HOT and it trickles out a bit of cold and then stops.
Turn on the sink on HOT and it trickles then becomes strong briefly (still cold) and then disappears altogether.
The COLD tap on both the bath/shower and sink is fine
One other slightly weird thing - the HOT tap on the sink used to be really tight and hard to turn (this was made worse by the fact that it had come loose from the sink (I'm guessing that it was so tight that brute force had pulled it free from the sealant connecting it to the sink.) NOW it seems easier to turn - don't know if that's a clue to what's going on or just a coincidence.

First floor - (normal sized bath with shower above, sink and toilet) we've hardly used this bathroom since we moved in but we are now because it's working fine - hot water flows normally and cold does too (though the cold water is definitely less powerful than upstairs - with less water coming out per second - so I guess less water pressure)

We have a relatively old Ideal Classic boiler in the kitchen (ground floor) and a pretty old looking hot water cylinder with Anode 1050mm x 400mm INDIRECT Grade 3 on the label (which is in one of the first floor bedrooms next to the bathroom that is working).

The water tank is in the loft (on the same floor as the bathroom that isn't working) and has an Altecnic expansion vessel (a bright red ball bigger than a football - in case that isn't an expansion vessel!) The pressure had fallen to 0.5 on the gauge when we got back - so I opened the valves and got it back up to around the red pointer at 1 again but that's had no effect.

Sorry for all the detail but I can see from the forums that the more info i can give the better. From what i can see online there maybe a simple solution (flushing the system out or a frozen pipe with the weather we've had) but as is probably obvious from my post I know very little about plumbing.

Thanks in advance for your help.

FF

 

[Dannypipe]

Is there a pump for the second floor bathroom? My guess is yes as there is a power shower and you state you have an old style cylinder (gravity).

 

[Flamefoot]

There's what looks like a pump next to the cylinder, it says:

British Gas/Scottish Gas Type: Multihead G

would that be it?

There doesn't seem to be anything in the loft itself - just the tank, the expansion vessel and a solid chipboard box construction around or under the tank

thanks

J

 

[Dannypipe]

Thats your central heating pump.

Did the shower have a good pressure and has the pressure dropped? Could you hear a noise when you ran the shower?

 

[Dannypipe]

Oh and the red expansion vessel is probably for your sealed central heating sytem

 

[Dannypipe]

A photo would help. However if your tank is in the loft, and your bathroom is in the loft then you have no head pressure. So your shower would never work without a pump (let alone a drench sized shower head).

Therefore I'm guessing you have a negative head pump somewhere in the system, probably under the bath, or tucked away somewhere. If this pump went on the blink you would have problems.

 

[Flamefoot]

Hi there,

sorry for the delay - I had to take apart some stuff to find the pump.

It's a Stuart Turner Monsoon Negative Twin Duty Pump N3.0 bar and it's still running (making a noise and vibrating) - so it hasn't blown a fuse or anything

I suppose that the problem lies there - any obvious quick fixes I should try - before I get someone to come and take a look?

Ta

FF

 

[Flamefoot]

Oh and i should say - it's under the tank in the loft

FF

 

[Flamefoot]

OK - so I talked to a guy who services these pumps and he's sceptical that it's a problem with the pump - he thinks it's an airlock.

There's lot's of info on the web about how to cure airlocks simply but none of them seem to offer me a solution - with the airlock up in the loft a very long way from the mains water tap.

Is there a simple way of getting the mains pressure to unblock the airlock all the way up on the second floor - or do i need a really long hose!

Thanks

FF