No hot water from the kitchen tap

portach king

Hi Guys,

I've been looking at boards for an answer to this issue but I can't find anyone in the same situation as myself. I just into an apartment which has gas heating. It's working fine, comes on every morning and heats the water for the bathroom sink and bathtub/shower, but not the kitchen. Water runs, but's it's only slightly lukewarm. I can hear the pump activate when I turn the hot tap in the kitchen so there is some communication there (it doesn't make any sound when I turn the cold water tap) so I'm guessing the solution must be pretty simple. I'd appreciate any advice.

sullzz

portach king wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I've been looking at boards for an answer to this issue but I can't find anyone in the same situation as myself. I just into an apartment which has gas heating. It's working fine, comes on every morning and heats the water for the bathroom sink and bathtub/shower, but not the kitchen. Water runs, but's it's only slightly lukewarm. I can hear the pump activate when I turn the hot tap in the kitchen so there is some communication there (it doesn't make any sound when I turn the cold water tap) so I'm guessing the solution must be pretty simple. I'd appreciate any advice.

The cold water is not fed from the pump which is why it does not activate the pump.
it could be aproblem with your tap mixing , what you could try is ...turn off the stopcock under your sink and see what volume off hot water your getting out of your hot .
another thing to check is if there is a valve on the hot supply to the tap which might be half closed.

portach king

sullzz wrote: »

The cold water is not fed from the pump which is why it does not activate the pump.
it could be aproblem with your tap mixing , what you could try is ...turn off the stopcock under your sink and see what volume off hot water your getting out of your hot .
another thing to check is if there is a valve on the hot supply to the tap which might be half closed.

Hi Sullz,
Well, here's where it gets even more confusing. I can't find the stopcock. There is a wooden panel in the back on the press under the sink. So if it's there, I don't have direct access to it. Likewise, I see no valve.

sullzz

portach king wrote: »

Hi Sullz,
Well, here's where it gets even more confusing. I can't find the stopcock. There is a wooden panel in the back on the press under the sink. So if it's there, I don't have direct access to it. Likewise, I see no valve.

There should be a hole cut out in the wooden panel that you can put your hand in to turn the stopcock , if not it may be in your hotpress if your in an apartment

aujopimur

Is the flow of hot water at the kitchen as good as the flow in the wash hand basin in the bathroom.
If it's not the problem may be an incorrect type of pump has been installed.

portach king

@Sullzz, well there certainly doesn't seem to be one under the sink. I've turned stopcocks in the past and known where to look for them (ie. sink and areas around it), but there doesn't appear to be one. If it's in the hotpress, well I'm not sure which one it is, there are four valves there, all leading into the immersion/tank. two unmarked, one reading "Cylinder Balancing Valve" and another "Cold Water Valve". Both marked are loosed to about halfway to my estimate.

@aujopimur The flow is fine. Pressure is very high on every tap.

sidenote: It won't help much due to the terrible image quality (small nokia phone), but here's an image of the hotpress and the valves.

sullzz

Ok thats a combi cylinder so the stopcock is more than likely at high level near where the mains connects to the ballcock and should be a stopcock rather than a gatevalve ( red wheeled valve).
just to clarify have you tested the temperature of the water ay the sink before you have used the shower or afterwards when you have drawn off a large quantity of water, sorry if it srems like a silly question.

portach king

sullzz wrote: »

Ok thats a combi cylinder so the stopcock is more than likely at high level near where the mains connects to the ballcock and should be a stopcock rather than a gatevalve ( red wheeled valve).
just to clarify have you tested the temperature of the water ay the sink before you have used the shower or afterwards when you have drawn off a large quantity of water, sorry if it srems like a silly question.

Hi, well I found the stopcock near the ceiling. So that's that mystery solved. In regards to your question about the water, yes, I have definitely tested the tap while the water is still hot.

portach king

To clarify, I cut off the water supply at the stopcock and the hot water tap pumped at full pressure, but again with cool water. The cold water tap would not pour at all, for obvious reasons. Also, in case its asked, yes, the immersion has plenty of piping hot water in it at the moment.

sullzz

How long are you letting the tap run for , leave it run for a few mins , the toilets are probably right beside thehotpress so you get hot water straight away and the kitchen further away so you have to draw off a long leg of cold water .

portach king

I'm actually letting it run for quite a long time, for the sake of testing I let it run just now for 5 minutes and no change. The bathroom is right next to the tank, but the kitchen isn't too far away either.

aujopimur

It sounds like the hot supply to the kitchen is connected to the cold from the storage tank.
Turn off the supply to the hot water cylinder and run the kitchen tap, if it runs the above is the problem.

portach king

aujopimur wrote: »

It sounds like the hot supply to the kitchen is connected to the cold from the storage tank.
Turn off the supply to the hot water cylinder and run the kitchen tap, if it runs the above is the problem.

I'm afraid to say I've been stumped by this simple suggestion. Any ideas for how I might be able to turn off the supply. I really appreciate all this help from both of you by the way, thank you.

Buford T Justice

If you can take a decent photo of your hot press we may be able to help you.

portach king

Hi, unfortunately all I have is this little camera phone so I took a few more shots. Some are unclear, but if there's anything especially I can focus on or take a closer picture of, let me know.

See the album of 5 photos here. Apologies again for the quality, hopefully they are a bit better than the first.
http://imgur.com/a/z0PUp#0

3 more shots with torch pointed inside
http://imgur.com/a/uqP4C

aujopimur

On pic 3 of 5 shot & pic 3 of 3 shot in the centre left of each pic is a red valve on the insulated pipe, this is the cold feed to the cylinder, turn this valve clockwise to turn off the hot water.
When you have done the above turn on the kitchen hot tap, post what happens

portach king

I closed the valve with the Cold Water Valve tag hanging from it as you suggested and the hot water reduced to a steady trickle, still poured, but not much did.

aujopimur

Did it reduce the flow at the kitchen hot tap as well.

portach king

aujopimur wrote: »

Did it reduce the flow at the kitchen hot tap as well.

I presume you mean the cold tap? If so, no that poured at the usual pressure.

I was referring to the hot tap in the kitchen when I mentioned the trickle above.

portach king

*bump*

I still haven't been able to find a way to resolve this. Appreciate all help. Thanks.

portach king

Hi guys,

I'd really appreciate any help in fixing this. Thanks

Buford T Justice

I can't help you without seeing actually whats going on in the hot press, the photo's aren't good enough.

If you're not having any luck, try plumbing and heating.