rh2705

A couple of days ago we noticed our hot water was tepid, then it just stayed cold. Timer hasn't been fiddled with by the kids and when I select override for HW the boiler kicks in sure enough but quickly shuts off again. When I feel the inlet and outlet of the tank heating coil, when I force override (HW) the top feed gets red hot very quickly, but the bottom pipe (the one connected to the motorised valve) stays cold. Any ideas? busted valve??? Air lock??? When I lower the stat temp on the tank I can hear the motorised valve whirring shut, but increasing the stat temp I hear nothing. The manual lever on the valve is loose and won't hook into the little slot when the stat is on normal temp, but as soon as the stat is lowered and the valve shuts it will slide under tension and sit in the little groove no problem - don't know if this is significant or not. Any ideas as to how to fix very gratefully received - a few years ago I phoned several plumbers for HW but no heating I didn't get much enthusiasm from any of them to want to rush round and fix it - so any DIY fixes you can suggest would be enormously appreciated.

Howdy one and all - newbie member but experienced DIY amateur here - I really should sign up and do some City & Guilds courses one of these days - interested in Electrics (most enjoyable), will do plumbing as a matter of 'have to' but very rewarding when I've succeeded, brickying as and when but prefer to pay a pro, enthusiastic carpenter along the lines of 'functional but **** to look at' - again, prefer to marvel at the work of a true craftsman than 'have a go' myself, but practice makes perfect... Fave tool - my Bosch PSB24 cordless drill Most fun tool to use - Clark pipe bender Most hated tool - routers - bloody noisy, bloody messy, bloody necessary. Skills I haven't tried yet: Welding Plastering (filling holes with Polyfilla don't count) Fitting UPVC windows Tools I'd love to own: A lathe A pillar drill An accurate mitre (maybe I'm doing it wrong????) An Asimo robot fully pre programmed for all aspects of home DIY.