Reoccurring airlock

ShamFeen

Hi. Just yesterday I went to flush the upstairs toilet and it didn't work. Saw there was no water in the cistern. Then tries both cold taps upstairs and no water. Flushed other toilet and cistern wouldn't refill. Guessed it was airlocked so opened a cold tap and put a hose on it from the hot upstairs. Left it a while and heard cistern filling again and hat cold water everywhere. Got up this morning and no cold feed again upstairs. Did the hose trick again tonight and left it for longer than last night in case there was more air and it worked fine again. Tried it again two hours later and no cold water again. Tank is full upstairs and no signs of any leaks. Any help greatly appreciate as I'm stumped!

Bonzo Delaney

Just my two cents but I'd reckon you'd want to use the mains pressure to clear any air back to the attic tank. I can't see the hot tap having enough pressure to push the water back up in to the tank. Just link a garden hose from the cold kitchen sink to a downstairs loo cold tap. While that's flowing open the other cold taps upstairs to clear any air in those branches. Should do the trick

ShamFeen

Bonzo Delaney wrote: »

Just my two cents but I'd reckon you'd want to use the mains pressure to clear any air back to the attic tank. I can't see the hot tap having enough pressure to push the water back up in to the tank. Just link a garden hose from the cold kitchen sink to a downstairs loo cold tap. While that's flowing open the other cold taps upstairs to clear any air in those branches. Should do the trick

Thanks that cleared it. It has started reoccurring again though. I cleared it last week and it was back in 2 days and then cleared it yesterday and it was back again this morning. Just wondering should the expansion pipe that comes into the tank be submerged in the water or should there be a gap or is it something else? Any help is appreciated

Bonzo Delaney

ShamFeen wrote: »

Thanks that cleared it. It has started reoccurring again though. I cleared it last week and it was back in 2 days and then cleared it yesterday and it was back again this morning. Just wondering should the expansion pipe that comes into the tank be submerged in the water or should there be a gap or is it something else? Any help is appreciated

Expansion pipe should be out of the water completely
The expansion pipe is only on the hot run and I take it that's running ok
The airlock is only in the tank fed cold system from what I gather from your op
Chasing air can be a nightmare and extremely time consuming.
If you have any cold water from the tank running down stairs let it run for about 3 min to let the water level in the tank go down a bit
Maybe tie up the ball cock in the tank if there's a valve for it just turn it off so it won't fill the tank back up
Take any filters off the taps
Then link up the mains to a down stairs cold tap again or upstairs one
close all taps
Turn on the mains fed tap when the cisterns are full check the tank in the attic to see is that filling up from the outlet pipe and also is any bubbles been pushed out of it
Don't let the tank fill up to much the over flow is only for emergencies
When there's no more bubbles coming in to the tank leave the mains on and open each other tap one by one until all air is cleared if you have a bath open this one first
Flush toilets and check these refill
Turn off mains feed
Turn back on ball clock in attic turn off all taps
Leave for a few min then try all taps again
Should work if not try that again I know pain in the arse
Was there any work done recently where pipes were moved even water meter instal ( dirt could of got in to the tank then into the domestic cold line
Or did it jus occur out of the blue.

ShamFeen

Bonzo Delaney wrote: »

Expansion pipe should be out of the water completely
The expansion pipe is only on the hot run and I take it that's running ok
The airlock is only in the tank fed cold system from what I gather from your op
Chasing air can be a nightmare and extremely time consuming.
If you have any cold water from the tank running down stairs let it run for about 3 min to let the water level in the tank go down a bit
Maybe tie up the ball cock in the tank if there's a valve for it just turn it off so it won't fill the tank back up
Take any filters off the taps
Then link up the mains to a down stairs cold tap again or upstairs one
close all taps
Turn on the mains fed tap when the cisterns are full check the tank in the attic to see is that filling up from the outlet pipe and also is any bubbles been pushed out of it
Don't let the tank fill up to much the over flow is only for emergencies
When there's no more bubbles coming in to the tank leave the mains on and open each other tap one by one until all air is cleared if you have a bath open this one first
Flush toilets and check these refill
Turn off mains feed
Turn back on ball clock in attic turn off all taps
Leave for a few min then try all taps again
Should work if not try that again I know pain in the arse
Was there any work done recently where pipes were moved even water meter instal ( dirt could of got in to the tank then into the domestic cold line
Or did it jus occur out of the blue.

Thanks tried that so time will tell now I suppose!