Draincock won't open

gingercat

In the never ending quest to save money, I'm trying to repair our hot water cylinder - our only source of hot water in a non-gas-supplied village.  I deduced that the immersion heating elements have blown, and have bought 2 11" replacements.  Now the problem:

After turning off cold supply to the tank
...and opening all hot taps to drain excess from the pipes

...I now go to open the draincock at the bottom of the tank, but nothing comes out!  I can completely take the end off the drain !!!!!!, but no water appears (yes, there is still water in the tank!).  There seems to be some sort of valve in the !!!!!! (can just see a spikey metal bit).

Any ideas as to why I can't drain the tank?  Do I have a seized draincock, or am I being daft?

Thanks in advance!
Chris.

VH

Whe you say you're taking the end off the 'drainthingy', I'm not sure what you're referring to.

The tank should have a draincock on the bottom, you need to attach a length of hose to this and turn it to start the water draining.
Have a look here for more info.

Davidboy

Ginge mate,

I really would recommend you find a plumber!! A drainything as far as I am aware is not a techincal term.

Beware, if you try to remove the element before you have drained the tank properly, well I assume you like a indoor waterfall!!! Pretty but messy!

Best of Luck! :-/

gingercat

Don't worry - I did know the technical term, but as I put it in two words drain c###, I think the auto-profanity checker picked up on it and replaced it with "drain thingy".

I had looked at the DIYDoctor site (amongst many), and have been following their instructions to the lettter, but I believe the draincock has seized.

Believe me - I would love to get a plumber to do the job, but none are available in my area for weeks

VH

Try spraying the draincock with penetrating oil e.g. WD40, leave it for a bit and try turning it. This may free it enough to drain the water out.

Alternatively you could remove the top element in the tank, catch whatever water spills out in a bucket, then siphon the rest off with a hose. Then you can replace the elements (and draincock as well if you feel brave).

gingercat

Cheers VH - squirted some WD40 (after heating the drain with some hot water (from the kettle obviously...)), but the valve wouldn't open of its own accord, so I wook the cap off, and gave it a little encouragement with some pliers - tank now drained

My new problem is how to get the old elements out - I've disconnected and made safe all the electricals, and the thermostats are in their new heaters, ready to go in, but the old elements are really jammed in. I've given it a good going over with WD40, and I'm just waiting to try again with the immersion heater spanner.

gingercat

Aha - good old Reader's Digest!

http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/diy/webpages/340_341.htm

plumb1_2

Cheers VH - squirted some WD40 (after heating the drain with some hot water (from the kettle obviously...)), but the valve wouldn't open of its own accord, so I wook the cap off, and gave it a little encouragement with some pliers - tank now drained

My new problem is how to get the old elements out - I've disconnected and made safe all the electricals, and the thermostats are in their new heaters, ready to go in, but the old elements are really jammed in.  I've given it a good going over with WD40, and I'm just waiting to try again with the immersion heater spanner.

You should try and loosen the heaters while the cylinder is full of water,this way it will help support the thin copper wall of the cylinder.otherwise it will twist the copper if you are not care full.And another tip is try and heat the area around the heaters first with a Blow torch if you have one,as it will expand the copper slightly.