Air lock in hot water system All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[wubba]

I have a constant problem with air locks in my central heating hot water system. The hot water does not heat up because of the air lock and I have to keep going into the loft to release the air from the highest point, sometimes every week. I assume this is because the hot water feed is about three feet above the top of the cylinder before it gets back down to the cylinder. I do not have the same problem with the rads and the pipes take the same route. Should I fit an air purger to the highest point of the feed for the hot water or do I need to do something more drastic.

[muttley]

get a plumber in to check your system to be on the safe side

[htg engineer]

You could fit an automatic air vent in place of the manual vent, but it shoudln't really be needed, and definately shouldn't need venting on a weekly basis.

From the boiler to the tank/cylinder the pipes should continually rise, there shouldn't be any fall or drop, if the pipes rise to the loft then drop to the tank/cylinder then thet's the problem. Get a plumber out to check and alter the pipework if necessary