Hot Water - Running Slow after having water off?

[ol' boy]

Missus House (2 Story)
315litre Electric HWS with connected Solar and Tempering valve

2 weeks ago, i turn the mains water valve off to try and replace a tap washer in the up stairs vanity.
In doing so, i ran off some water in the downstairs taps, to make sure there was no water pressure at the upstair tap i was working on.
I could not complete that task, as the valve stem was locked into the fitting.
Went back outside and turned the mains back on.
Ran water through all taps until it ran clean and solid.

Seems, i have stuffed something up, possibly an air lock, as now, the Hot Water in the upstairs and downstairs hardly runs at all.
And if you turn 2 Hot Taps on, then its almost nothing

I just had a look here:


But that seems odd to me, i haven't seen that before.

Checked Mains, its on Full
Purged both PTR valves on the Hot Water Service (hot water full of steaming hot water at good pressure)
Come back inside and open closest HW tap, the water kind of surges, then runs at 1/4 pressure.

Any ideas how to correct this?

[fandtm666]

check that there is no dirt or debris in the tempering valve, when you turn the water of the pressure
in the tank drops and when turned back on stirs up all the crap.

[ol' boy]

Actually, that is a great idea.
Not sure how to actually get in the valve itself.
But as a process of elimination, i am now going to go outside, and disconnect the Tempering Valve outlet, and see what pressure is at that point, before it enters the house.
And 666, this is the exact same house i was questioning the Tempering valve a year or so ago.
So it may be the root cause.

[fandtm666]

they are pain the in ass spring loaded pieces of crap

[ol' boy]

they are pain the in ass spring loaded pieces of crap

Bingo!
Tempering Valve

Disconnected the outlet side, turn the isolation valve back on, water just dribbled out.
Tempering Valve is like this one



Now... worse that that, i just noticed the HSW has buldged on the top, like a full cricket ball size budge, from the inside pushing out
The top of the HWS has also separated from the sides.
Its as if the PTR valve has been failing to work each night and the cylinder has expanded

[fandtm666]

turn water off at the mains - remove the tempering valve and give it a good
knock and you will see the rubbish fall out.

[gordon_s1942]

Now... worse that that, i just noticed the HSW has buldged on the top, like a full cricket ball size budge, from the inside pushing out
The top of the HWS has also separated from the sides.
Its as if the PTR valve has been failing to work each night and the cylinder has expanded

I dont like the sound of that one little bit because if its a Mains Pressure HWS, the only thing that can cause bulging like that is the water expanding as its getting hot or steam is building up and that is potentially dangerous which I think needs immediate attention.
The top of all tanks is generally 'raised' and thats where the pressure relief valve vents off from.

I 'fiddled' with some pressure valves on the coal fired Donkey and split the side out of the tank when it got too high, better that than blowing a hole in the wall.

[ol' boy]

Yeah gordon, i have seen the 315L mains pressure blow the wall off the side of a school before.
Only the one case i have seen, as generally a thermostat fail and PTR fail it just splits the liner and water and pressure escapes.

[ol' boy]

turn water off at the mains - remove the tempering valve and give it a good
knock and you will see the rubbish fall out.

Thanks mate, i was gorking at the $99 replacement price for valve i'd rather not even have.
Each time i have touched it, the flow rate has just got worse and worse.

Looks like i will lose the Hot Water in the HWS while i inspect (bash) the Tempering Valve.
A 15mm Elbow and an End Stop for the Cold in is more appealing.

I will start with seeing whats in it, or if it even has "Screens" before the valve.

[ol' boy]

FIXED

Thanks 666, you saved me $100.

Turns out the Tempering Valve itself wasn't in bad shape (stripped it all down)
It was in fact the "Hot" side inlet, where there was a No Return Valve and screen in the adaptor.
It was clogged with calcium type crap, even up the 15mm pipe a short amount.

Cleaned it all out, re assembled.
Brand new.

[gordon_s1942]

I have a hand book issued by the Army post WW2 and in fairly simple basic terms it deals with pumping and other liquid related tasks.
One thing I learnt is that water has many properties depending on what form its in to be used.
Hot water has its own quirks and gets harder to 'move' as the temperature rises.
Basicaly it doesnt move at all, but it expands and rises and if you can replace what has risen, you get flow.......ergo the HWS !!!

What the Romans learnt and did 2000 years ago is still used today so by following those lessons, you have a working HWS.