We often fail to appreciate how important hot water is to our lives. However, if you suddenly find that you have no hot water from the taps one morning you quickly begin to realise just how vital we find it. If your hot water is not hot, you’ll no doubt want to know if there’s anything that you can do to resolve the problem yourself or whether you’ll need to call in professional heating engineers to resolve the issue for you. Read on to find out more about what it means if you have no hot water but the heating works and what you should do first if this happens to you.
Check Your Water, Electric And Gas Supplies
Whatever type of boiler you have, the first thing you should check is whether its energy supply is working properly. Check that your water supply is also still on since they may have been accidentally switched off and this is a very simply fix that you can rectify yourself.
Try Resetting Your Boiler
If the boiler is not firing up for hot water, resetting the boiler may help. Some boilers have a reset switch that you can operate yourself (without having to remove the boiler casing). If yours does, try using it to reset your boiler. This could solve the problem.
Check The Thermostat
Today’s boilers allow users to change their radiator or hot water temperature quickly and easy with a thermostat. Check yours to ensure it hasn’t accidentally been adjusted to a cold setting. Try turning your thermostat up high to see if the boiler fires up. If it does, then your problem is solved.
Check The Timer And Clock
If your boiler has a clock and timer, ensure that it is properly set to the correct time. If there has been a power cut, if an electrician has turned off your electricity supply while working on your home or if the clocks have changed recently, the clock may show the wrong time and your boiler will therefore not fire up at the time that you expect.
Is It The Diverter Valve?
If your heating is working normally but your hot water is not hot from your taps or shower, there could be a problem with your diverter valve. This allows combi boilers to switch seamlessly between heating the water and heating the radiators so when the hot tap is turned on the valve will open to send the hot water into the tap. If you have a faulty or stuck diverter valve, your hot water may not work. One of our heating engineers can resolve this problem for you if you give us a call.
Is There An Airlock In The Pipes?
If you are not getting any hot water from your taps there could be an airlock in the pipes. You could fix this yourself by attaching a hose to the working cold tap and connect it to the hot tap. Turn on the hot tap until it’s fully open that turn the cold tap on fully. The high water mains pressure will probably force out the airlock, resolving the problem. If it doesn’t, call our team of engineers and we can come out to check the problem and, if necessary, drain your system.
Are The Pipes Frozen?
One common cause of a lack of hot water is that your pipes are frozen. The condensate pipe goes outside the house and so, in cold weather, it can freeze and block. You can remedy this yourself by pouring some hot (not boiling) water onto the pipe.
Is There Low Pressure In The Boiler?
Many heating problems, including a lack of hot water, can be caused by low boiler pressure. First, check the boiler’s pressure gauge. If it is in the red area or is under 1 Bar of pressure, you can repressurise your system. If this is a regular problem, give our team a call. The problem could be caused by a faulty component or leak in the system but we can help to identify and resolve the problem.
Is The Pilot Light Out?
A very common cause of no hot water in the hot tap is that the pilot light has gone out on your boiler. This is required to ignite the gas that heats the water inside the boiler. If your pilot light is out, you’ll need to follow your model’s instructions to ensure you’re relighting the pilot light safely. If it won’t stay alight, the thermocouple could have a problem. Give our engineers a call and we can check this for you.
Is There A Leak?
A leak in your central heating system could lead to the pressure dropping and, with it, a loss of hot water. It’s best to give our team of expert heating engineers a call to find out whether your central heating system is leaking water. We can pinpoint the source of any leak and then carry out repairs to rectify the problem.
Getting Professional Help
If you have no hot water but your boiler appears to be in perfect working condition, there are a number of reasons why this could be happening. If you’ve checked everything that we’ve mentioned here and you’re still unsure of why you’re experiencing this problem, contact our Gas Safe heating engineers today.
As experts in the industry, we can carry out all of the necessary checks and tests to determine the cause of the problem and can then offer you helpful advice and recommend the right repairs or replacements to fix the issues that you’re experiencing. We know that it can be worrying and inconvenient if you have no hot water but the heating works so give us a call today. We look forward to helping restore hot water in your home so that you can enjoy warm showers once more.
