Airlocks

[The Medway Handyman]

Hi All

Changed some ceramic cartridges in a mixer tap today for a really nice OAP lady. Old ones made the taps so stiff she couldn't use them (bad arthritis in the hands) new ones made it simple for her. One of the nice things about being a handyman when you can help someone like that.

Had a really bad airlock in the hot water side. Sorted it out OK by blocking the outlet of the mixer & running the cold tap back through the hot.

This lady apparently can't use her bath hot tap because every time she does it causes a similar airlock in the kitchen sink. Standard indirect system, but it's a bungalow - would that make it worse?

I believe you can get anti airlock valves? Where in the system do you fit them and would they help in this case?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It could have less head than on a house?

The problem is almost certainly poor pipework with long horizontal - or worse - slightly rising runs. A pump might be the easy cure.

[Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)]

How cruel. Why couldn't you use new cartridges?