Cleaning/Replacing Header Tank CH

mrjaywarren

Hi All,

I need some help, purchased and flat and moved into it about a month ago and over the past 2 weeks our hot water from the taps has lost pressure.

I called Halifax as I have an utlimate rewards current account covering my for home emergencies and they sent a plumber out who has said that the header tank needs flushing and left me a report, unfortunatly my insurance wont cover this work.

I need to know if it is something anybody can do? Using a wet n dry vac and some specialist cleaners...

I really dont have the money to pay for a plumber to come out...

Any advice/tips or help would be great :j

southcoastrgi

before i say what i suspect i'm going to say about the plumber, what does his report say ?

mrjaywarren

His report said that there was a twisted hose under the sink, the header tank needed cleaning and the system needed flushing he also says a descaler needed to be fitted.

But when I spoke to Axa they told me the tank needed to be replaced.

Any ideas?

southcoastrgi

ok first a flexi hose under the sink is twisted yes this will effect the flow rate & i see loads of those, but it hasn't suddenly decided to twist it's self has it, if it's a flat what kind of cylinder have you got ? what kind of boiler have you got ? if the title of your thread is correct the central heating header tank has got diddly squat to do with the hot water flow rate out of your taps, can you post some pics of the boiler & cylinder ? if not due to your post count pm them to me & i'll post them up

mrjaywarren

Low hot water pressure is on all taps, kitchen bath and bathroom sink, shower is ok for some reason (its a power shower?)

I have a glow worm boiler it's not a combi it's just an old thing. His reasoning was that the scale and sludge block up the pipes, he also said something about the lid being left off the tank which means all the crud and dust in the loft had got in there.

Do you think it's worth getting Axa to send someone out for a second opinion? Is that even something they might offer?!

What else could it be? I originally thought it was the hot water pump that had had it! Made sense to me...

southcoastrgi

if the lid has been off then yes you could have alsorts in there, i've seen dead rats. mice, squirrels, pidgeons etc, it could really be a few things, yes the pipe from the tank to the cylinder could be blocked or it could just have an air lock in it, if the cylinder is old it could be a build up of scale in the cylinder, have you turned off the gate valve to the cylinder these sometimes will come apart inside restricting the flow, if you have a wet hoover that has a blow on it you could try putting the end of the hose in the roof tank over the fitting for the pipe & switch it on & see if you can blow out the blockage (if thats what it is), if you only have a top immersion boss on your cylinder & it is full of scale the only real way to get the scale out is by removing the cylinder & tbh if you are doing this then it might be time for a new one, insurance co won't normally pay for this as it's classed as wear & tear, even if it was leaking most of them will pay for any damage the water does but the cost of replacement is down to you.

mrjaywarren

I've just sent the pictures over, so it could be a blocked pipe or could be the top immersion boss on the cylinder, we have an immersion switch which we never use? Does this help?

J

southcoastrgi

southcoastrgi

i posted two of the pics the ones of your time clock really are realivent, i would say the cylinder is made by a co called gledhill & the two pipes in front are flow & ret from the boiler the cold feed is prob at the back where you can't get to it, there doesn't really look like anything there that would effect the water coming out of your taps, i only said about the immersion heater boss as if it was a scale build up prob then if you had a low side immersion this boss/hole could have been used to clean alot of it out.

mrjaywarren

Ok thank you, really appreciate your help.

So it's not the immersion boss, must be something else. Worth cleaning the header out still?

J

mrjaywarren

Out of interest how old would you say the boiler is?