Got a problem, something has got into/broken in my hot water pipes and after a couple of bits coming out of a tap upstairs my kitchen hot water tap has slowed to a dribble.
All other taps are working fine in the house, hot water fine, all my pipe work is behind kitchen units and under floors ?
How can I unblock cheaply ?
Presumably you have a large header tank in the attic which feeds the hot water cylinder, which in turn feeds the hot taps?
Do you have a mains pressure cold tap in the kitchen? If so, you need to devise a means of connecting the hot and cold outlets together, and then turn on both taps. This will force water *backwards* through the hot pipe, pushing the blockage back into the cylinder or header tank.
It just *might* be an air lock rather than a blockage - but the cure is the same!
Don't do the back-flow for too long, or the header tank will overflow. [Post someone in the attic to keep an eye on it. Or lower the level before you start by tieing off the ball valve and running off some hot water via one of the taps which *does* work].
I had a problem with the same symptoms 20 years ago in a new (well it was then) Barratts house. The blockage was caused by bits of expanded polystyrene foam which they had used in slabs to lag the header tank. Small bits had broken off and got into the pipes when the tank was empty (otherwise it floats at the top). I just unscrewed the taps to let it float out every couple of months.
luggsie
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