Airblock mofo.

iLikeWaffles

So the water went for a large area north Dublin on Sunday. The mains returned to normal pressure yesterday but I'm still without water in bathroom hot and cold tap and hot tap down stairs.

I think its a nasty air block. There is water dripping into the toilet tank and it fills slowly around 2-3 hours roughly.

Got a piece of hose and put it up against the hot/cold tap in the sink and blew to put pressure on the block. Air just goes around and out the toilet valve. Went up to the attic to see if the tank is filled. Its to the brim!

Tried the same thing with the hose inserting it into the out for the toilet and blew. Water increases in speed dripping into the toilets tank but once the pressure from my lungs is off it goes back to the same speed of dripping. I can feel the pressure from the water in the pipe on the hose when I blow.

Besides a hose and shear lung power what would be a better approach to get the block out. I was thinking of turning the heating on for a few seconds.

House has always had problems with air blocks after the water went and came back has never been this bad though. Is there anything else I could try before I give in and ring a plumber?


Something else occurred to me, the attic tank has quite a bit of sediment in it and some large flakes of limescale. If the tank emptied when the water was gone when it refilled it could have broken up a piece of limescale enough for some of it to get stuck at the stop valve for the bathroom feed or down further. What would be the best way to unblock that type of blockage. I was thinking a piece of copper wiring maybe. I could strip some from an old extension lead.

I tried a length of pex connected to a foot pump connected that to the hose and could not get a good enough seal on the tank out to break the block. Is there any sort of washer I could get to put on the end of the hose to give a proper seal. I will try plumbing tape next time round if that doesn't work, time to make a phone call. The out on the tank is not smooth inside it has two little bumps on opposite sides preventing a good seal.

Am I approaching the block the right way? Thing is there is no water in the bathroom except the electric shower which has a separate out on the attic tank (that was air blocked too) If I try the hose with water in it I am not sure there is enough pressure to reach upstairs so what alternatives would I have.

agusta

iLikeWaffles wrote: »

So the water went for a large area north Dublin on Sunday. The mains returned to normal pressure yesterday but I'm still without water in bathroom hot and cold tap and hot tap down stairs.

I think its a nasty air block. There is water dripping into the toilet tank and it fills slowly around 2-3 hours roughly.

Got a piece of hose and put it up against the hot/cold tap in the sink and blew to put pressure on the block. Air just goes around and out the toilet valve. Went up to the attic to see if the tank is filled. Its to the brim!

Tried the same thing with the hose inserting it into the out for the toilet and blew. Water increases in speed dripping into the toilets tank but once the pressure from my lungs is off it goes back to the same speed of dripping. I can feel the pressure from the water in the pipe on the hose when I blow.

Besides a hose and shear lung power what would be a better approach to get the block out. I was thinking of turning the heating on for a few seconds.

House has always had problems with air blocks after the water went and came back has never been this bad though. Is there anything else I could try before I give in and ring a plumber?


Something else occurred to me, the attic tank has quite a bit of sediment in it and some large flakes of limescale. If the tank emptied when the water was gone when it refilled it could have broken up a piece of limescale enough for some of it to get stuck at the stop valve for the bathroom feed or down further. What would be the best way to unblock that type of blockage. I was thinking a piece of copper wiring maybe. I could strip some from an old extension lead.

I tried a length of pex connected to a foot pump connected that to the hose and could not get a good enough seal on the tank out to break the block. Is there any sort of washer I could get to put on the end of the hose to give a proper seal. I will try plumbing tape next time round if that doesn't work, time to make a phone call. The out on the tank is not smooth inside it has two little bumps on opposite sides preventing a good seal.

Am I approaching the block the right way? Thing is there is no water in the bathroom except the electric shower which has a separate out on the attic tank (that was air blocked too) If I try the hose with water in it I am not sure there is enough pressure to reach upstairs so what alternatives would I have.

You could try the hose with main water pressure in it,the pressure of the mains water should have plenty of pressure to reach upstairs.a few wraps of insulation tape on the hose will seal the hose but u shouldnt need it..when removing the hose slowly leave the mains water on and leave the mains water mix with the gravity flow until the gravity flow is flowing freely

iLikeWaffles

agusta wrote: »

You could try the hose with main water pressure in it,the pressure of the mains water should have plenty of pressure to reach upstairs.a few wraps of insulation tape on the hose will seal the hose but u shouldnt need it..when removing the hose slowly leave the mains water on and leave the mains water mix with the gravity flow until the gravity flow is flowing freely

I will try it. The hose is connected on the mains but pressure is not too good. Its worth a go though going to try the copper wire to the stop valve too. 4 hours trying to get it out with no joy today. I reckon it might be a lump of lime scale in which case the wire down the out of the tank should break it up hopefully.

RJF

Try using a wet vac if you have one or can get your hands on one.

iLikeWaffles

Thanks for the suggestions. Got a plumber out. Turns out it was an air block creating negative pressure at the mixer tap in the sink. The flexi hose and mixer tap connected is for a pressurised system. Took the mixer tap out of the equation by disconnecting the flexi hose at the valve and turned the valve on in a bucket. No more air block.

The reason I couldn't get it out from the hose in the attic tank was there wasn't a good enough seal on the out firstly and even if there was most likely the air would have just came out the ball cock valve in the toilet before reaching the flexi hose valve.

All good now. Until the water goes again I'd say. Will probably have to get a low pressure tap.

cupan_tae

Just wondering, How much did the plumber take off you for the privilege ?

At least he sorted now. Have a bit of experience with Air locks myself - connecting a bicycle inner tube between tap A and tap B and run tap at full bore for a minute or two blows out the airlock. Still comes and goes a bit when pressure is low or like yourself water turned off in the area for whatever reason.

iLikeWaffles

cupan_tae wrote: »

Just wondering, How much did the plumber take off you for the privilege ?

At least he sorted now. Have a bit of experience with Air locks myself - connecting a bicycle inner tube between tap A and tap B and run tap at full bore for a minute or two blows out the airlock. Still comes and goes a bit when pressure is low or like yourself water turned off in the area for whatever reason.

Not much :rolleyes: