One day, the hot water stopped flowing. This was the case in both the kitchen and the bathroom. This didn't affect the shower because it's an electric shower and the hot water is heated as it comes through the little heating unit that the shower head is attached to. The cold water was working fine and the radiators heated up as usual, so it seemed to me, ignorant as I am about plumbing, that there must be some blockage somewhere, but this seemed odd. I notified the guy who manages the place and he said he'd get the plumber here. Today, the plumber arrived. He checked the press (the cupboard/closet where the hot water tank sits on a shelf with the water to be heated by either the oil burner when we have the heat on or using electricity). He checked the taps. He got his ladder and climbed into the attic to check the tank that lives up there. This is a common feature of dwellings here, which we learned about in our first Irish apartment. We had no idea why there was dripping water outside one of the bedroom windows in the middle of every night. We told the landlord at the time and he said he'd send someone, but although we reminded him several times, no one ever showed and the dripping continued, much to the annoyance of our neighbors, who finally complained to the people managing their business premises and apartment. In the meantime, I was describing the problem to someone and they explained about these water tanks. Water comes from the mains and fills the tank, which has a float mechanism, like in a toilet tank, which prevents overflowing. In the case of our first apartment, it didn't work so the tank overflowed outside.
Today when the plumber came back down, he said there was water in the tank, which was good. He said he had a gadget that should solve our problem. He did what he did and we heard a noise. He asked if we'd heard the gurgle. He tried the taps and they worked. He went back up into the attic to check the tank again, came down, and handed me this:
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