Slow Filling Cistern - How To Turn Off The Water Supply

Jeepy

Hi,

I live in a two bed townhouse in the Grove. Recently the cistern in the upstairs toilet has been filling up extremely slowly. The downstairs toliet fills up normally.

I had a look in the upstairs cistern and I can see where the water is coming in from. Before I go checking if it needs a clean or if something is broken, I know I need to switch off the water supply. The water mains comes in under the kitchen sink. If I turn this off can I then work away or is there another valve/tap in the attic/hot press that I need to turn off before I go looking at the cistern?

Thanks.

LEIN

There should be a valve in the hotpress. You will need to drain the tank.

the Lamb Post

I'm having the same problem and was speaking to a Mechanical contractor the other day and he said that the first thing to check is actually the ball cock in the cistern itself. There should be a rubber ring in the connection between the ball cock and the pipe entering the cistern. This ring, over time, will expand and therefore restrict the flow of water in to the cistern when filling.
I turn my water off from under the sink in the kitchen, behind a removable back in the press.
As Damo says, drain the tank once the water is turned off and this will free up access to the ball cock in the cistern. Apparently the rubber washer is quite easily available in woodies etc.
Hope this is the problem and it's nothing more serious.

Charlie-Bravo

There should be a gate valve in the Hot Press to isolate the indirect cold water supply to the cold water taps. It'd be on one of the 3/4" pipes in the hot press dropping down from the attic. No need to drain the tank for this exercise (provided the pipes are correctly installed!!).

What's worth noting is that you may find dirt/debris has built up over the years in the ballcock valve . Let us know how you get on.

Jimjay

astrofluff wrote: »

There should be a gate valve in the Hot Press to isolate the indirect cold water supply to the cold water taps. It'd be on one of the 3/4" pipes in the hot press dropping down from the attic. No need to drain the tank for this exercise (provided the pipes are correctly installed!!).

What's worth noting is that you may find dirt/debris has built up over the years in the ballcock valve . Let us know how you get on.

Yes there is a tap in the hot press. Make sure you don't turn the boiler pressure tap by mistake or your boiler will start leaking downstairs if you don't notice.

I have used the tap to turn the water off and you will not need to drain the tank.

Jeepy

Thanks for the responses.

I had to go to my parents home for the weekend but last night when I got back I did have a quick look in the hot press and I saw a red gate valve. I presume that's the valve from the tank that I have to shut off.

I'll have a look at the cistern this evening and let you know how I get on.

Thanks

pm31

Hi Jeepy, did you ever get this fixed? I'm having the same problem myself.

Jeepy

Hi PM31, very sorry for the late reply. Yes I did eventually get this fixed and the good news is that all it took was some vaseline.

As the water fills up the cistern the float rises and pushes a little pin that prevents the water from continuing to flow. You can unscrew the ball cock and take out this pin. I rubbed some vaseline on it, put the screw back in and screwed the ball cock back on and it fills up fine now.

I didn't turn off the water supply but it's safer to do so. If you don't turn off the water it might be best to have someone with you to flush the toilet so it doesn't overflow on you.

Hope this helps.