Initially I was called out to investigate why no water was coming out of any of the hot taps in the property.
There are 5 main reasons why this would be happening:
- Cold Water Storage Cistern (CWSC -loft tank) is empty
- Gate valve from tank to cylinder is closed
- Pipework from tank to cylinder is blocked
- Cylinder is full of limescale
- Airlock in the pipework
The CWSC was full of water & there was no gate valve in existence (Grrrr!)
There was a lot of plastic push-fit pipework in existence & so I explored the possibility of an airlock….
Very quickly water was restored to all the taps….problem solved.
…except I then noticed a small leak from the cylinder which had clearly been ongoing for sometime.

Chipboard is unsuitable for the base of a cylinder base
I would normally replace with plywood, but during COVID-19 I couldn’t get any. Thankfully I had some OSB in my garage which is far superior to chipboard.

I managed to get 2 layers of OSB in. The first one flush with the existing floor & the final to create a neater (& stronger) finish

And the new cylinder…hot water restored