draining down

hi i need to change a leaking emmersion heater do i have to turn off the stop cock at the back of the cuboard (there is no water supply to the tank on the top) before i start to drain down

Hi Stuart,

Almost certainly you don't. If there is a float valve in the header tank then yes you will, but there alomsot certainly won't be one.

This means you'll be fine to drain down without turning OFF the water, but you'll need to rig up a hose pipe or some other method of manually re-filling it after changing the heater element.

Cheers, Mike

thanks i m draining it down now we er in a second floor flat with a hose pipe down to the ground no rises in it but its just trickleing out the outlet is fully open any ideas

While the tank is full, crack open the element. But wait! open so it turns a little, do not open it completely. This will help prevent the cylinder from folding in and damaging.