no water from hot taps All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[tekman]

Hello, I've recently had to be away from my house and my mother was taken ill when I was away and the house has been empty for 29 days. My sister thought it would be a grand idea to switch off the central heating at the programmer end to prevent the heating and hot water from switching on twice daily.
We live in London and yep there's been a lot of snow.
When I returned home yesterday I found that there wasn't water coming out of any of the hot water taps and not being a plumber don't know why.
Maybe the pipes had frozen, but the cold water runs fine. The tank is full in the loft and functioning correctly. The central heating boiler is lit and working, the radiators work fine and the pump I fitted in September 08 is functioning properly yet still no water from hot taps. The hot water tank in the bathroom sounds as though there's water in it and certainly flowing into it through the pump. Maybe an airlock?. Would anyone please be able to help me sort this without me having to resort to getting in a plumber as funds do not permit thank you :?

[TheDoctor4]

Hi

Have you had a look at the DIY Projects section at all. Many answers concerning central heating issues can be found here: https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects.htm

Regards

[htg engineer]

Firstly I would check with your sister that she hasn't turned anything else off, maybe mistaken for mains cold stop tap ?

To clear an airlock, if you have a mixer tap - open hot tap fully, place your thumb over the spout, open cold tap, this will back fill the pipeowkr to the tank.

If you have seperate hot and cold taps, a short cutting of hose connecting the two and again - backfill.


htg

[tekman]

My sister only switched the programmer controls to off and left everything else the same. The house was built in 1927 and still has a lot of lead piping but obviously copper is also installed since central heating went in.
We only have one mains pressure outlet in the small box bedroom but the washing machine is plumbed in here.
I've tried the hose tap to tap trick with no success although it wasn't completely watertight as I've a problem finding a piece of hose the correct size for the kitchen taps. I assumed it should be done downstairs rather than from the basin or bath. They are all on tank pressure. The kitchen tap outlets have a 17mm width spout external. and hose was standard garden hose size whatever that is and I used hose adapters for the taps. This is quite likely part of the problem trying this method. I realise it would be best A - to run it from mains cold and B to connect the hose directly to each tap using jubilee clips to secure. I'll be damned if I can find a piece of hose the correct size :?

[tekman]

Ok I got a piece of hose the right size and securely clipped with jubilee's done the test several times and still nothing. There has been a little spluttering and air released but that's that. If it isn't an airlock after all what else could be causing this please?