Have I got an airlock ?

RayCon

Like everyone else my area has been affected by water cut offs etc etc (Celbridge area). The water is now back on but Im having hassles. Ive read through some other posts and I think Ive got an airlock but can't be sure. Details as follows :

I have cold and hot water downstairs (Kitchen) and hot water ONLY upstairs.

No cold water running from the bathroom sink, bath and no water from the power shower. No water in the cistern.

Checked the tank in the attic - it's full and the stopcock (ballcock or whatever its called) is working (pressed it down and water started to flow into the tank, let it go and ball floated and cut the flow off).

Other posts suggested an airlock so reading through some of the methods I tried the bathroom sink.

The bathroom sink is a mixer tap so I blocked the tap with my hand, slowly turned on the hot tap , then slowly turned on the cold tap. Within a few seconds I could hear the cistern filling up ... took the cover off (while still blocking the mixer tap at the sink) and found that the cistern is filling with HOT water. Let it fill to the cut off point and then turned on the cold water tap in the bath (while still blocking the mixer tap in at the sink) .... HOT water started to come out of the cold water tap at the bath.

Is this correct ? ... Is this an airlock and am I removing it ? If so , how long do I have to do it for ? None of the other posts gave a timeframe which makes it sound like a relatively quick process .... am I on the right track ?

Any help greatly appreciated ... I need a shower !!!!!

Sparkpea

make sure all the toilet cisterns are filled up first, or else have someone else holding the ballcock up. then do what your doing for about 2mins and try it.

whats happening is ur blowing the hot water into the cistern rather than back up to the tank in the loft, which is where the airclock is (between tank and were it drops into the bathroom)

RayCon

Thanks a lot Sparkpea ... I'll give that a go

RayCon

That worked a treat .... thanks again Sparkpea ... you're a life saver

El Camino

I was suffering from an airlock myself and seem to have cleared it by forcing the cold water back through the hot tap. Hot Water is flowing everywhere now. However, i do not have sufficient hot water pressure for a shower. The shower head simply feeds off a mixer tap in the bath. Nothing too fancy. There appears to be a steady flow through the taps for the bath & also when the shower head is lowered down to bath level. But when it is extended above head height the hot water simply stops.

I've searched recent postings and cannot seem to find an answer to this? Any ideas?

I've disconnected the shower head & cleaned it out and tried the airlock trick in the bath mixer unit to no avail.

Thanks in advance!!

matamoros1965

I have the same problem but when I tried the solution that Sparkpea suggested, I had no luck. I have a pump next to my immersion tank which increases the water pressure to the showers etc. Would that affect the chances of the water being forced back up to the attic tank?

Buford T Justice

Does the pump just supply the shower or does it supply all the tank fed taps?

It may need to be bled.

matamoros1965

The pump has an electric switch that we press on and off when we need to shower which means that it will only work whilst on but will send water to any tap (except the two cold water taps downstairs) thats open at that time. When I turn the pump on with the cold tap also on, the pump stops and starts then gets going but only a small increase in flow.

Buford T Justice

matamoros1965 wrote: »

The pump has an electric switch that we press on and off when we need to shower which means that it will only work whilst on but will send water to any tap (except the two cold water taps downstairs) thats open at that time. When I turn the pump on with the cold tap also on, the pump stops and starts then gets going but only a small increase in flow.

The pump is most likely airlocked. It will need to be bled, Can you post a pic of it?

matamoros1965

Mine is called Watermill, they have been taken over by Grundfos recently, it has two pipes at either end. Sorry, I thought I was linking to a site but it didn't work. If you Google, Watermill PR50D pump, the first site shows it. Sorry, not very computer savvy.

El Camino

I too have a pump beside the tank. Can't seem to attach a pic at the moment. Bleeding this might just do the trick. The model is Elbi ERP 320/10

Any suggestions how i should go about this?

Buford T Justice

Isolate the water supplies going into the pump and remove the pipes from the pump. Open the isolating valves and bleed a good bit of water into the pump until its flowing steadily. Isolate again, refit to pump and put water on. do this for both hot and cold and you should be done.

That, or call a plumber

El Camino

There actually appears to be an air valve at the top of this pump. Should i attempt to release any air from this?

Pic attached

Sparkpea

El Camino wrote: »

There actually appears to be an air valve at the top of this pump. Should i attempt to release any air from this?

Pic attached

that is not a pump it is an expansion vessel

Sparkpea

El Camino wrote: »

I was suffering from an airlock myself and seem to have cleared it by forcing the cold water back through the hot tap. Hot Water is flowing everywhere now. However, i do not have sufficient hot water pressure for a shower. The shower head simply feeds off a mixer tap in the bath. Nothing too fancy. There appears to be a steady flow through the taps for the bath & also when the shower head is lowered down to bath level. But when it is extended above head height the hot water simply stops.

I've searched recent postings and cannot seem to find an answer to this? Any ideas?

I've disconnected the shower head & cleaned it out and tried the airlock trick in the bath mixer unit to no avail.

Thanks in advance!!

you still have a bit of an airlock I assume, basically whats happening is theres not enough pressure to push the water up to your head, it works when its low down because theres more head pressure. try and clear the airlock again...

matamoros1965

When the Plumber came, it turned out that there was a small stone and quite a large amount of limescale in the little filter going into the pump.

Thanks to Fingers and Joey for helping with this issue.

El Camino

Sparkpea wrote: »

you still have a bit of an airlock I assume, basically whats happening is theres not enough pressure to push the water up to your head, it works when its low down because theres more head pressure. try and clear the airlock again...

Thanks Sparkpea.

I've tried clearing the airlock a few times now and it doesn't seem to be making any difference. THere is water coming from all hot taps so i'm not sure how effective i have been when blocking the mixer anf trying to force the cold water through the hot water system.

Any other suggestions? Get a plumber to take a look i guess at this stage?...

sellerbarry

Hi all. I'd just like to thank everyone here for their advice re the airlock. I tried the mixer tap finger over the nozzle trick and it worked great. Thanks all again. Will be able to have a wash now;).