Water system drained down?

joeyjac

Hi all

I'm buying a reposession and due to move in on the 18th. I've phoned all the utility suppliers today and everything is still connected so straightforward.

My question is, the toilet and boiler etc have tape over them stating "do not use, system drained down" sorry if i'm stupid but what does this mean and how can I get it working again?

The house doesn't have heating so the boiler only does the hot water. I need to live in the house straight away so need, at the very least cold water to flush the toilet etc.

can anyone advise?

Thanks

Jo

steve-o_3

Its hard to say without being there, but it sounds like they've just turned off the mains water vlave and probably used the last flush of the toilet and emptied the tank of hot water (maybe so nothing leaks / overflows / seizes up etc???)

I'd just open the mains valve and see if everything starts to fill up, keeping a close eye on the connections to make sure nothings leaking and thats why its been isolated?

joeyjac

Great thanks for that steve.

I was hoping that would be the case, I'll give it a try and keep my fingers crossed nothing leaks!!!

Jo

Canucklehead

Hi

You might find the gas has been capped and, just to make sure squatters can't reconnect it , part of the gas valve on the boiler might be missing (That's what I saw in the last one I was in).
Have a look round and you might see a company name on one of the stickers/labels. Any problems call them up.An estate agent will involved at some point so there's another number to call.

Corgi Guy

joeyjac

I've discovered it scottish power who supply both the gas and electric. They have said there is no record of an engineer visiting the property to disconnect the supply so as far as they are concerned it just needs us to turn it back on at the meter.

Another quick question, is there anything I need to do with the boiler with the water been off for so long? Its an Ideal and looks quite new. I think its a combi even though it only does the water as there's another set of pipes coming from under it that are capped off?

Thanks

Lorian

Aswell as mains water stopcock you need to check if a pipe goes upwards from the boiler. If it does then it is likely to have a header tank, and you might find the input valve to the header tank has been turned off, or the valve tied up in the tank.

Make sure the hot water tank has water in it before you turn on the boiler or emersion heater!

And get the boiler serviced for your own safety

I am not a plumber!

Canucklehead

Hi

Sounds like gas and water capped at the boiler then.
I think it would be a good idea to get a Corgi to test gas soundness, refill and fire the system rather than wing it and cross your fingers, particularly if you will be there over xmas.

Corgi Guy.

BobProperty

As has been suggested it has been drained down to prevent any damage from leaks or frozen pipes bursting in very cold weather. I would want to watch and check everything while you refill it just in case someone has nicked a length of copper pipe you didn't notice needed to be there.

Mikeyorks

joeyjac wrote: »

I'll give it a try and keep my fingers crossed .....

In the DIY manual - that comes at the top of the 'famous last words' page!

If you haven't done it - I'd reconsider it - and, at least have people on (and under) every floor!