Bathroom cold water feed

[Mike hughes]

Hi all, hoping someone might be able to offer so advice. I recently purchased a property that was built circa 1996, we have found on moving in that the cold water feed to the bath and the mixer shower in the end suite does not work. A British gas plumber came out over the weekend to say that they are gravity fed from the tank in the loft, however he go t them working only once he turned the water off. He turned the water back on and went on his way but they have since stopped working again since the mains was turned back on...

It may sound strange, and believe me it is to me too. He suggested the tape may need changing although the bath taps are relatively new.

Can anyone shed any light on this for me? I have seen the bath cold tap working so I know it is plumbed in, it just won't work at all...

I'm not a plumber, but I'm quite handy at fixing things so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[rpm]

So he turned the water ON and they worked for how long? Minutes/hours/days/ how many times?

 

[Mike hughes]

He turned the water off, and the bath cold water tap was working and the sink was not. Which I think confirmed the sink was linked to the mains and the bath the tank in the loft. He turned the water back on and left but the bath then stopped working when the mains water supply came back on...

 

[Old Account]

He turned the water off, and the bath cold water tap was working and the sink was not. Which I think confirmed the sink was linked to the mains and the bath the tank in the loft. He turned the water back on and left but the bath then stopped working when the mains water supply came back on...

Hi mike,

Welcome to the forum.

So just to sum up, the bg plumber came out and checked which appliance are linked to the tank in the loft. Basically he turned the mains off which turned the sink off?
He then turned the mains back on and all was working? If so for how long ( as above )?

Regards
Ron

 

[Mike hughes]

Hi Ron. Sorry I probably haven't explained it all that well, probably because I'm stumped.

In short, he came out because of a leak which turned out to be the bath overflow not being connected properly - something I spotted and fixed before he arrived. As well as that though, we noticed when we moved in last week that the cold water tap on the bath did not work, and the mixer shower in the en suite didn't work either (hot but no cold) when he came out he...

1 - turned mains water off
2 - turned bath cold water on and after a couple of minutes it started to work.
3 - tried shower and it worked
4 - tried sink cold water and it didn't work (I.e linked to mains which had been turned off)

He then suggested that the taps may need replacing or a reviver kit to replace the internals. Although they are relatively new ( less than 12 months at most) and with it affecting both I would be inclined to disagree in my non professional opinion.

He left without turning the water back on, I did this instead but then the bath and shower cold water stopped again.

The fact this happened in line with turning the mains off and back on may be irrelevant but oddly coincidental.

In the meantime I have checked the storage tanks in the loft and both are full and ball valves working as expected.

My thoughts now are... Is there a blockage in the line? Albeit air or debris of some sort?

Hope that all makes sense

 

[moonlight]

Is your water in your cold tank mains fed or bore hole? I went to a house recently, only a trickle from the bath and the toilet float valve. Went into loft tank outlet was clear and tank full. Plugged the tank. Took the tap apart and found washer jammed in tap. Went back in loft, unplugged tank. Back to tap still a trickle. Took tap apart still trickle. Poked a screw driver into tap body and out flew several stones and lots of water. Refitted tap insert quickly. Fully functioning tap. Luckily I was able to flush pipework on wc. toilet now working. It turns out water is from a bore hole. Still, you ask how did they get in the pipework when tank is clear????? I wish I knew.

 

[Mike hughes]

It's mains fed as far as I know, I've tried flushing the taps with a hose from the sink (which is mains) to no avail, from what I could tell it was back flushing at all.

Perhaps it is the taps, I'll be taking it apart this weekend and replacing of needs be but if that's not it then I have no idea...

 

[Plumbus]

Sounds like an airlock - when the mains is off the bath /shower outlet run and you are effectively draining the storage, this slightly lower pressure may allow the airlock to move out of harms way when tap/shower is open.

Have you tried opening the bath tap and covering the outlet or even blowing up the tap (with a short bit of hose)? This may work and may save a drain down which could result in further locks!!

 

[Plumbus]

..."blowing up the tap (with a short bit of hose)?" .... You will need good strong lungs and I take no responsibility blah blah....

 

[Mike hughes]

Ok so to it's not even longer story short. We had another leak from the drain on the bath (slow leak) which has made its way down the inside of the wall and destroyed the carpet in the joining room. Not a massive issue as this was due to be replaced soon anyway. Although another bg engineer has been out and has fixed the tap. Apparently it was a seized valve...
All sorted now though. Thanks all for your help it's much appreciated

 

[Plumbus]

Nice. With tap and shower both not working (assuming not a shower mixer) I thought that airlock was the most probable but glad all is sorted.