Is your hot water system failing to produce hot water? Or do you hear some kind of spluttering noises coming from your hot tap whenever your system is on? Well, these are the signs of a hot water system that has an airlock. A water tank that is running dry is one of the reasons behind airlock. But whatever the reason, you must get the airlock out if you want your hot water system to continue heating water. Before you reach out to a plumber for assistance, here are some few tricks you can try out:

Clearing The Airlock Using The Help Of Your Washing Machine

You washing machine must be connected to the pipe that supplies water around your home, which is also known as the main in plumbing terms. This pipe is also connected to your kitchen taps and the principle here is to use water pressure from this pipe to clear out the airlock in your hot water system. So get to your washing machine and turn off the cold water valve first. Then disconnect the cold water hose from the machine.

Next, turn off the hot water pipe valve and disconnect the hot water hose from the valve. The rest is easy; connect the end of the cold hose -- which is now free -- to the hot valve. Turn on the valves (hot followed by cold) and leave them in that state for about half a minute. This technique allows water from the main to push any sort of air in the hot water pipe back up. Then close the valves off once again -- cold water valve followed by hot -- and check to see if there is water running from the hot tap at the kitchen. If so, the air has been dispelled. 

Clearing The Airlock Using The Cold Tap In Your Kitchen

It could be that your washing machine doesn't have a hot water connect pipe. If this is the case, you need another method to bail you out, and you wouldn't go any further than the inside of your kitchen to find it. For this task you will need a short hose, and if you do not have one in your home, you can buy one at your local hardware store. Use the hose to connect the cold and hot water taps in your kitchen. Then turn on the cold one and let it run for some few minutes before closing it and disconnecting the hose. The cold water is supposed to push air back up in the hot tap. This method works perfectly if the two taps are not connected by a mixer tap, or in other words, they are separated. 

What if there is a mixer tap in your kitchen? Still easy; grab a piece of cloth and use it to block the mixer tap. This step helps in reducing water that squirts out. The rest of the procedure is carried out just the same way as if there was no mixer tap involved. A mixer tap is the tap that mixes hot and cold water, and it usually located between the hot and cold taps.