Domestic Plumbing Total Lack of Pressure

[Sundayjumper]

It's another FAO @jamcg, sorry !

Over the last week or so the pressure on the upstairs cold taps & toilets has dropped to zero - i.e. open the tap, nothing comes out. Toilets were taking longer to refill and now don't at all.

Downstairs cold taps are mains pressure and working fine.

Water tank in the loft is full (that was my first suspect, seized ballcock and empty tank, but no) and there's nothing in the tank blocking the outlets.

There's two outlets FWIW, I'm not sure but I'm guessing it's one for the taps/toilets & one for the hot water tank ? We seem to have hot water as normal.

So it seems to me the pipe is blocked somewhere between tank & wherever it starts branching off to taps/toilets ? Is that a thing, cold water pipes getting blocked ?

I have a very very vague memory of once connecting the garden hose (mains pressure) to a tap connector to push water backwards through the system but I can't remember why I was doing it. Is that the thing to do here ?

[drcarlos]

In my old house some tit, put a board over the tank and a hot water tank jacket on top as insultation. This wouldn't have been a problem, but they used chipboard which over time in the cold and damp blew and then collapsed into the tank. The chip board fragments and some of the fibre insulation came out of the jacket as it split got sucked into the outlet and ended up blocking the taps, clearing up that mess was a fun job.

[jamcg]

The hose back pressure is an old trick to clear air locks out of hot water systems.

If your upstairs cold water is tank fed then it may be just an air lock, however it’s unusual for everything to be tank fed, usually basins and toilets are mains fed

It may be a blockage, have you had any outside work done by the water board? Worth looking at what drcarlos said too. I have seen sand come into pipework and gradually cause blockages in pipes/showers/taps. I’d try dismantling ball valves first on the toilets and having a look inside, same possibly with the taps. I’d do that as a first step, just be aware that it may suddenly start so isolate if possible.

If you can identify that the poor performing outlets are indeed tank fed you could try moving on to the hose trick, but you need to confirm no contamination first as you’ll just shift it elsewhere.

[integrale_evo]

My grandads old house used to gradually lose pressure, upstairs presumably an air lock. By trial and error I found putting a thumb firmly over the outlet of the sink mixer tap and turning both hot and cold on full would cause it to shift and be fine for a long while.

Pretty sure it was the cold that was the issue with his because I definitely remember the toilet started taking ages to fill.

[Sundayjumper]

Ta !

The upstairs taps are definitely not mains fed, the pressure difference between them & downstairs has always been very noticeable.

There's been no work - inside or outside - recently.

Air lock seems possible; I'd not thought of that, I just went straight to assuming a physical blockage.

Hose time !

[Sundayjumper]

...I found putting a thumb firmly over the outlet of the sink mixer tap and turning both hot and cold on full would cause it to shift and be fine for a long while.

That is a Top Tip I'll go try it.

[V8Granite]

As a father of 2 sons, it’s definitely Lego or an army man.

Dave!

[mik]

...I found putting a thumb firmly over the outlet of the sink mixer tap and turning both hot and cold on full would cause it to shift and be fine for a long while.

That is a Top Tip I'll go try it.

Thats for issues with hot water non? Use the mains pressure cold to push back an airlock in your hot? (I have seen this done, and also seen online a trick with marigold rubber gloves - cutting the fingers off and popping them all onto the tap end - then hold them on as you open both taps).

[Sundayjumper]

Right, I think that's done it

Harry's mixer tap trick pushed water through to the adjacent sink but wouldn't clear the blockage, not quite enough pressure I guess.

jamcg's airlock suggestion was correct by the looks of it.

And I didn't have to resort to the garden hose. I'd forgotten that the electric shower in the main bathroom is connected to mains pressure and of course has the same connector as the shower outlet from the mixer tap. So I just connected the shower hose from one to t'other, set it to full cold and turned them both on. Left it running for a few minutes while I went back & forth checking the taps & toilets. Everything now working.

Cheers guys

[jamcg]

Air locks are created by weird gremlins that turn up every now and then to screw up your entire water flow and can be a nightmare to clear

[dinny_g]

I have a really odd water hammer occurrence which started up a few months ago. Bathroom cold taps only. Turn on either cold then when you turn it off, you get the hammer for about 10 seconds. The upstairs tap also vibrates

[jamcg]

Check out the pipe runs and clip any you can. Alternatively fit a water hammer arrester, no guarantee it’ll work but worth a shot

[dinny_g]

Cheers mate

[mik]

Exorcism required mate.

[Sundayjumper]

That's not ectoplasm on the bathroom ceiling.