Please help - Hot Water Tank problems All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[Alyballi]

Hi there - hope someone out there can help.

I got the element in my tank replaced about 3 months ago - and had hot water for- oh, at least an hour. Thereafter nothing. We gave up on it for a while and took showers instead!! However now that I need to get a new shower I thought I would try to get to the bottom of the immersion heater problem. I've just discovered that there was no water in the tank to heat up in the first place, [how was I to know???] as the guy who "fixed it" forgot to turn on the cold water inlet valve [bottom left of water tank]. There's all sorts of weird and wonderful noises coming from the pipes, now that water is finally flowing through them to the tank....so Im just a bit paranoid of anything going wrong as they have been silent for so long.

This is going to be a really dumb question [or two] but I need to ask :

1. how far should the inlet valve be turned to allow water into the tank? 45 degrees, more? It's pretty noisy and the inlet pipe is freezing cold!

2. how long should it take to fill the tank [it's 25 gallons] - and how do I know when it's filled? Is there an automatic shut off in the tank?

3. and finally....[dont laugh!] I take it I need to heat the water in the tank before it'll come out of any hot taps - otherwise any water from this tap will be from the mains? Am I understanding this correctly or have I lost the plot completely? I've scoured the net and arrived at this site - but haven't come accross the exact same problem...

Any advise greatly appreciated :)

[htg engineer]

The water and the pipe will be cold - because it's mains cold water.

Open the tap fully then one turn clockwise (to prevent it seizing) the ball valve will stop the flow of water when the tank is full.

The water from the hot taps will not be from the mains, it'll be from the tank, if the water isn't hot you will get cold/warm water - it's not going to damage anything running the tap before the water is hot.

Last of all - find something else to fill in your time - you seem to be worrying too much about this tank - there's really no need. Leave water to tank on, turn on immersion when hot water is needed - run hot taps whenever and for as long as you like. Immersion not working - use boiler to heat water.


htg

[Alyballi]

thanks htg - I'll try the valve turning tomorrow.

The immersion heater is my only source of hot water, I dont have a boiler.

Im a little confused when you say the water from the hot taps will be from the tank [which IS what I've always thought] and not from the mains as there hasn't been any water in the tank for months. The guy who "fixed" the element the last time turned my water off, drained the tank and took it out of the cupboard, fitted the element then fitted tank back into the cupboard, and - as I've now discovered, forgot to turn the inlet valve back on. [I only discovered this as I had an electrician in quoting me for fitting a new electric shower]. If there was no water in the tank where did it come from??

I'll admit I am worried about it, I always worry about things I dont fully undestand.

Thanks again :)

[htg engineer]

If you've been getting water with the MCWS to the tank turned off -

Either:
- the valve has always been turned on
- the valve wasn't turned off fully, or has been passing
- you're using a mixer tap - so it'll be from the cold mains


"The immersion heater is my only source of hot water, I dont have a boiler."

"There's all sorts of weird and wonderful noises coming from the pipes, now that water is finally flowing through them to the tank"

This is what made me think you had a boiler. The water wont be flowing unless you open a tap.


htg