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Ian King 00 · Dec 1, 2004, 06:06 PM

Today a neighbour was having some plumbing work done in his house, he wasn't sure which was his Stop **** so he turned ours off as a process of elimination. Not a problem.

He turns it off and our water stops, turns it back on again and the water works again, surprise, surprise.

A short time later after flushing the toilet I notice that its not filling, I look inside the cistern and the water is just trickling in very slowly. I move the float up and down, give everything a little wobble, that's as far as my plumbing skills go.

Water pressure is fine all around the house, just like it was before.

What's happened here and how can I fix it?

Thanks

labman · Dec 1, 2004, 07:00 PM

Similar problem here the other day. Look at the water cross eyed, and you knock some crud loose. It gets caught somewhere and blocks the flow. You need to take the valve apart and clean it. Plan to do the same thing anywhere else the water slows down.

speedball1 · Dec 1, 2004, 10:18 PM

Labman gave you good advice. Let me cary it a bit further. What happened is your friend disturbed some trash or mineral buildup in your system and the first fixture you used drew it up into the valve. Most ballcocks are the float ball type. Shut the water off at the angle stop and flush the toilet to clear the tank. Now unscrew the three screws on top and lift out the floatball and stem and washer assembly. Place a pan over to prevent splash and turn the water back on. If the stream's still week run a wire down from the top with the pressure still on and try to break the obstruction up. If that don't get it you will have to shut off the water and disconnect the chrome supply tube from the anglestop. Pust the wire through the open ball cock to be sure it's clear and blow through the chrome supply tube. If everythings clear from the supply tube through the ball cock then you will have to shut the house down, take off the angle stop and flush out the branch line. Good luck and don't forget to thank your neighbor. Tom

Ian King 00 · Dec 3, 2004, 06:28 AM

It was a bit of dirt stuck in the nozzle of the ball valve.

:)

jda · Apr 9, 2005, 09:45 AM

Hi veryone,

What do you do if the toilet cistern is located inside the wall (it's a 'modern' thing) and there is only a small opeing for it on the upper part.

This opening is about 8 inches wide and 5 inches tall. But the flushing command is located right in the middle and I'm a bit afraid to try and disassemble it, as I might not be able to place it back in with so little room.

So the "working window" is of about 2 inches wide and 4 inches tall... I can slip the tips of my fingers holding some narrow object in it...
The cistern itself seems to be pretty deep: around 20 inches.

Any thoughts?
Or do I just call in the plumber?

Thanks in advance,
JDA

labman · Apr 9, 2005, 12:03 PM

Doesn't seem to me to be a good idea to put a troublesome thing like that inside a wall. What is the wall made of? If it is just drywall, it can be opened up and repaired fairly easy. Also check the other side of the wall for an access panel.

If the wall is tile or something, you may want to risk that a plumber is familiar enough with it, to know a trick to repair it through the small hole.

jda · Apr 9, 2005, 01:12 PM

Hi labman,

"Doesn't seem to me to be a good idea to put a troublesome thing like that inside a wall."
It's not! But then again, I had no saying on that...

The wall is tile, so no luck there. The idea of an acces panel on the other side was a pretty good one I wouldn't have thought of myself, but unfortunately neither did the builder...

Thanks for your thoughts anyway. :)