Help - Hot water coming through cold taps.

dubsey

Can anyone give me an ide of what to check/look for/change.

We currently have an immersion heater to provide out hot water. Last night, it was making some strange noises that it hasn't done before. Kind of like a kettle starting to boil combined with a knocking noise like cold pipes expanding when hot water is used for the first time.
Then when using the cold water this morning, after an initial 15 seconds of cold, the water was as hot as the hot tap.
It cannot be a plumbing problem as nothing has changed, so I'm assuming it's going to be a valve stuck somewhere. However, my plumbing skills only slightly better than being able to distinguish the difference between the hot and cold tap.

Any help would be greatly recieved!

Thanks in advance.

viktory

It is your feed and expansion tank that is at fault (I think). From memory, your hot water tank is overflowing into your cold water supply. You do need a plumber.

albertross_2

or turn it off before it boils, thermostat?

Ephemera

Turn the immersion off, ESPECIALLY if your cold water tank is plastic.

You may have a faulty thermostat on the immersion, it is relatively cheap and easy to replace but may need an electrician to fit it.

Good luck!

zorber

remeber the case last year when this happened and the household didnt realise. The tank melted and boiling hot water escaped all over a cot in the room below killing a baby.

Turn your emmersion heater off quickly!!.

kazwookie

And move any one whos bedroom is under the tank in the roof, as I agree with the above poster, a very sad case.

Better to be safe than sorry.

Cardew

Agree with the above - you have, in effect, a kettle element that won't switch off; and the boiling water has to go somewhere.

It is not a big job to fix.

dubsey

A huge thankyou to everyone for replying, it was actually DH that posted after he couldn't find the right advice on the net.

It was the thermostat on the immersion heater that was faulty, which has blown a fuse and stopped working completely now (a good thing). We can use the manual one to heat water as and when we need it while we are waiting for a new one to be fitted. Always the way that something goes over a bank holiday weekend!

Many thanks again :A