Pump not working

The Waxbill

I had no water in my house today due to my pipes freezing outside in the cold weather. Well it defrosted today and i have water again. Last year when i moved into the house i installed a pump in the hot press downstairs to increase the pressure to the bathrooms upstairs as the water pressure was very poor. a red flashing light came on the pump which indicates that the pump was starved of water or has excessive aeration. i reset the pump by turning it off and on again and the red light disappears. however it comes back on again when i run the cold water taps upstairs. it's fine when i run the hot water. any ideas what the problem might be? it should be getting a feed of cold water now as the cold water storage tank is full again. if it has air in it, how do i bleed it? i'd appreciate any help, i'm baffled.

ART6

From your description it sounds as if you have a normal set up of a cold water tank in an attic and a hot press on another level (downstairs in your case). In such a system, normally the attic tank would supply cold water to all but the kitchen tap, and hot water via the cylinder in the press. So, if the hot water pressure upstairs is OK then so should the cold pressure be since both are created by the height of the tank. That poses the question of why a pump was necessary in the first place, and it suggests to me that there is a restriction or blockage in the cold water circuit somewhere -- possibly a valve not fully open or debris blocking the pipe, or even an airlock that never clears. If you can do it, one experiment worth trying is to connect the cold tap in the kitchen to a cold tap in the bathroom -- open the latter fully and then crack open the kitchen tap. That will push mains water under pressure back up into the attic tank and will generally clear any blockage or airlock. Make sure the pump is turned off when you do it though!