Leaking hot water cylinder All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[Duncan Walls]

We get a small leak from around our hot water cylinder when the power to it is switched off. I am not sure if the leak is coming from the cylinder or the pipes supplying hot water to the house. There isn't a leak when the cylinder is turned on.

Grateful for any ideas on what could cause this.

[stuart_craigon2003]

I'm not sure what could be causing this but if it’s your cylinder it HAS to go. A leaking cylinder is anything but good. You might like to try getting in touch with an excellent cylinder manufacture in Scotland:

McDonald Engineers (UK) Ltd
Flemington Road
Queensway Industrial Estate
Glenrothes
Fife
KY7 5QF

Tel: (01592) 611123


They will be able to give you all the advice you need and their good at it too!

Stuart

[rosebery]

You need to trace exactly where the leak is coming from.

If its from the cylinder then it's a new cylinder I'm afraid. If so and your system isn't fully pumped then current regs say that must be upgraded as well when fitting a new cylinder.

If it's from the pipework then that's probably an easier situation to deal with - but you must trace it.

Cheers

[Dave From Leeds]

Some years ago I had a leak from the seam around the top of my hot water cylinder. Managed to stop it using Plastic Padding's Chemical Metal product. However the leak returned after about a year and I had to change the cylinder. What you say about the leak stopping when the system is switched on suggests that the leak may be on a joint in the pipework, maybe one of the cylinder connections. As others have said, you need to find out where the leak is.