Help, leaking Hot Water Tank

The thermostat sits in a copper tube. It should be easy to twist/pull out. The tube should not contain water. If it does, the it has failed.

The tube is part of the immersion heater assembly. You should be able to remove this once you've drained down the tank. Sometimes they are difficult to remove.

No, it is a fully enclosed tube. Clearly it has corroded all the way through.

Sounds like you need a new immersion. It isn't always possible to remove them without destroying the cylinder.

The best approach to loosening them is:

1. Loads of pentrating oil round the thread. Leave for a few hours. Apply more.
2. Attach hose to drain c*ck.
3. Tie up ballcock in loft tank.
4. Drain down cylinder until the cold tank and pipework is empty, but leave the cylinder mostly full.
5. Apply longest immersion spanner you can find.
6. Hit spanner handle with hammer. The shocks will be less damaging to the cylinder than attempting to apply steady torque, whilst encouraging the heater to spin.

Only one of 7a or 7b applies.

Christian.

Thanks Grunff and Christian,

Sounds like a job to start in the morning. I'll stick the pentrating fluid on tonight to get it started.

Regards, Colin

If a modest pressure does not get results, try a full drain down and apply heat to the cylinder near the immersion heater (older non-foam insulated tanks only), or to the dead immersion heater plate.

Whilst still empty apply modest pressure. If necessary fill with water (this is where shutting off the feed using a valve on the cylinder feed might have been the better idea), this will take a very short while if the cold tank is not drained. Redo 6. The purpose of the heat is to soften any rock hard boss white used to seal the 2" BSP immersion heater hole.

Sounds like you have one with the immersion at the bottom of the cylinder.

Rumour has it that box type immersion spanners are better than the ring type. I have never had to perform this operation so have no 1st hand experince though.

Gotta say I've not had good results with either type. My first immersion heater led me to purchase 2' long pump pliers, which I've used on all subsequent immersion heaters (and lots of other things). Highly recommended.