Water again...no cold water/flushing toilets upstairs

Was on yesterday about frozen pipes - went a week without any water, and tank in attic was dry. So managed to dig up and thaw out the pipe from the pump to the house and now have hot and cold water downstairs, and hot water upstairs. But we have no cold water in bath, sink taps and toilet cisterns upstairs. We have yet to put a filter on the well and the bottom of the main tank in the attic contains a lot of sediment, so wondering if it could have blocked the pipes in the week without water. Or could it be an airlock of some sort? Either way, any tips for unblocking? Or could it be something else entirely?

try feeding water back down the taps that arent working while they are turned on then let the water run back out
try in repeatedly for a while it should fix it if there is an airlock

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

try feeding water back down the taps that arent working while they are turned on

Thanks for that. Might be asking the very obvious, but how is this done? These are new appliances so hose connections won't neatly fit around them.

Xcellor

A couple of things to try.

1) If you don't might getting a mouthful of water you can try opening the tap and sucking the tap to clear the air.

2) Another option which i prefer is to over fill your upstairs tank to the point where it is spilling through the overflow. The extra pressure by the weight of the water can be enough to clear airlocks.

Once the flow starts the remaining air will purge over time.

Xcellor

Xcellor wrote: »

1) If you don't might getting a mouthful of water you can try opening the tap and sucking the tap to clear the air.

2) Another option which i prefer is to over fill your upstairs tank to the point where it is spilling through the overflow. The extra pressure by the weight of the water can be enough to clear airlocks.

Great, thanks. They look very doable.

I overfilled the tank, I have spent 15 mins trying to suck absolutely filthy water out of a tap, and nothing budging. Tempted to take an axe to the whole bloody thing! Wonder could I disconnect everything, clean out the tank of years of sediment and sludge, and take the pipes to a garage and blow pressurised air through them to clear them. Or could an airlock be this persistant? Or how does that water feeding work?

Thanks for thr help. It is appreciated. Course I could just get a plumber...but think I'd do the axe thing first!

This is getting frustrating, a few drops coming through, I'm sick of getting mouthfuls of filthy water. Thinking of simply disconnecting the pipes where they screw into the taps and seeing if they can be sucked or blown through. My only concern is water everywhere, but I guess if it aint getting to the taps it aint getting to a point a few inches short of them either. Wonder if I buy a plunger and try and stick it over the pipe outlet in the water tank if that will force anything through, but outlets so close to floor of tank I'm not sure plunger will form enough of a seal around the outlet to apply pressure.

meercat

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055797476
hope this link works. Last 4 replies should help. Cover mixer tap open valves send water back up to force air out. Or connect hose from main water inlet to low flowing tap to again force air out.

Think you may have linked this thread!

Anyway, problem sorted. Connected hose to outside tap and ran it into tank itself and jammed it in the outlet pipe there. That pushed through whatever the problem was, air or sediment, so water flowing again in all taps and toilets upstairs. Pressure not great but will leave them run for a while, the main problem is over anyway.