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Florellon · Mar 19, 2009, 08:03 AM

This morning I replaced the ball valve on my cold water cistern in the attic. When I turned the mains stopcock back on the ball valve worked fine and water now runs out to my hot taps, but not to the cold ones. In the cold taps (and in the lavatory cisterns) there is only a small dribble of water.

Is it likely that I dropped something into the attic cistern that then became lodged in the cold water pipe? I can't think why else it would have stopped working, especially since I didn't do anything to it (at least not deliberately!). If so, how would I go about removing the obstacle? I poked a little stick two or three inches into the entrance of the pipe and there didn't seem to be any blockage there, so I suppose it must be further down somewhere.

Any thoughts?

Solved it! After a little more research I discovered that the problem was not a blockage but rather an air lock somewhere between the first downstairs lavatory and the attic cistern. I had assumed this wouldn't happen as the pipes should be going more or less straight downwards between those points, but anyway somehow it did. I didn't have any hose but I was able to improvise a connection between the hot and cold taps in the lavatory using plastic bags and string---a thin but waterproof one underneath with a thicker, stronger one wrapped round it and a little string round that, both secured with string on the neck of each tap. I opened first the cold and then the hot tap so that the water ran back through the cold pipe in order to force the air out at the top---worked a charm! I heard the bubbles coming out through the cistern, and the cold water now runs happily.

Thanks for your help.

speedball1 · Mar 20, 2009, 11:07 AM

Bet you're from the UK. Right? Unique method of evacuating the air out of your pipes.
Glad you're back in business. If we can ever be of service let us know. Good luck, Tom

Florellon · Mar 20, 2009, 11:47 AM

I am in the UK, yes. Do you have a different system in the US?

speedball1 · Mar 20, 2009, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by Florellon

I am in the UK, yes. Do you have a different system in the US?

Yes we do. Your water's gravity fed while ours is pressure driven. To get air out of our pipes all we have to do is open the topmost faucet and the pressure pushes the air out. Kinda/ sort of like what you did. Cheers, tom

Florellon · Mar 20, 2009, 12:13 PM

Oh right, interesting.