Bought a house and got no hot water!

Goldust

Hi,

Apologies for my jargon - I'm completely hopeless when it comes to stuff like this! I just bought a house and the hot water doesn't work. The timer is a Randall 102 which seems to function OK and moves round as time passes.

I enquired with the Estate Agent and they said the previous owner said I should switch it from hot water to water and heating which I did.

The boiler is on and pilot light is on. If you turn the thermostat in the hallway up the heating comes on and appears to work fine. But I can't get it to heat the water. I went up to the airing cupboard and it sounds like something is happening in there and I tried turning the thermostat up on the thing in there with a red jacket around it and also the thermostat on the boiler itself up to 160. The first time I tried this I did get some hot water but nothing before then or ever since.

Is there anything else I can do with my limited skill and knowledge? Otherwise what do I need to do? I know it's a very old system but with all of the other work that needs doing I'd rather keep this one running at least until the end of the summer.

This is a picture of the boiler if that helps at all

albyota

Is there any motorized valves in the airing cupboard?

A motorized valve....zone valve.....mid position valve.....Honeywell silver box with a black cable.....or another colour, different make, but does the same thing.

Goldust

All I can see if a small thermostat which is hooked onto the bottom and I've set it to 160-180. The first time I did this it mad a click as if it was coming on (like a central heating thermostat) but now it doesn't seem to click at all no matter how high or low. Can't see any valves...

albyota

Best get someone in then......

macman

The motor valve is not on the tank, it'll be on some of the pipework leading to the tank, possibly on the floor. Post a pic of the associated pipework. Could just be a sticking motor valve, if so you can free it off maybe by moving it manually.
Can you not ask the previous owners to confirm that it was working on their departure? Has the property been empty for a while?

Goldust

They said it was working - it wasn't occupied for a few days but they had switched it off during this time.

I'm going up there in a bit so I'll get some more photos and post them back here later on.

Thanks

macman

You are loing for something like this:
http://www.plumbnation.co.uk/site/motorised-valves/