How to turn the water off upstairs?

santana75

Hi, The float valve in the toilet needs replacing as its just not flushing very well at the moment. I bought a new valve and the guy in the hardware store said in order to fit the new valve you have to turn off the water upstairs first. He said this is done in the hot press. Anyway I go home I look in the hotpress and theres three taps all lined up in parallel. I have no idea which one turns the water off upstairs. Any ideas? Which one of the three taps turns the water off? Or is there another way I should do this? I know how to turn the water off downstairs, will that do for the whole house? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Atlantic Dawn

One way would be turn on the cold water tap in bathroom, then by a process of elimination turn off each valve. Have the heating off when doing this just in case. Make sure you turn back on each when eliminated.

Turning water off downstairs will be no good as bathroom will be fed from tank in attic.

santana75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118477012#Comment_118477012

That makes a lot of sense, I'll try that so. Cheers

sully123

Post a pic of the whole hot press set up of you can't figure it out

Esel

Toilets should not, but very often are, fed from the main supply.

Shut the mains supply off then check if the cistern is still refilling.

TheW1zard

There will be a valve in your hot press, should be simple!

santana75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118477058#Comment_118477058

OK I'll take a picture and see if I can post it later today.

Esel

Did you try turning off the mains as I suggested?

santana75

OK this is what it looks like in the hot press. Which one do you think controls the water supply?

TheW1zard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118483314#Comment_118483314

I would think the two on the left are hot and cold feed for bathrooms,and the one on it's own to the right is the heating cold feed.

sully123

One of those should be branching off and going into the bottom of the hot water cylinder. That will be the cold feed coming down from the header tank. This should turn the water off everything that's not run from the mains.

Esel

Why have you not tried the incoming mains tap? Do you know where it is?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118483314#Comment_118483314

run the cold tap and try each one till the water stops. Then flush the toilet and see if it refills

santana75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118486102#Comment_118486102

I know where the mains tap is downstairs under the sink, but I was told to turn the water off upstairs in the hotpress. Lads I'm very much an amateur when it comes to plumbing so I want to be sure what I'm doing is the correct course of action.

Esel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118486314#Comment_118486314

Just go ahead and try the mains tap - it may well stop the flow to the toilet.

santana75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118486335#Comment_118486335

I just turned on the tap in the bathroom and left it running while I tried each of those 3 valves in the hotpress........water didnt turn off. I'll go downstairs and try turning off the main water supply so

smokie72

I have a isolation valve on the pipe that feeds the toilet. All I have to do is to turn it a notch to turn off the water to the toilet. Have you checked that you have one?

santana75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118486731#Comment_118486731

Ok so I turned off the water supply downstairs and it didnt stop the taps in the bathroom.............also I checked to see if there was a valve near the the toilet itself and no luck, nothing on the pipe feeding the cistern.

sully123

If you turn off the mains, it won't turn off anything that is feed from the header tank in the attic (which should be the upstairs taps, toilet etc.)

MuttonDagger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118495326#Comment_118495326

19 posts before someone mentions a header tank........

Wearb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118495365#Comment_118495365

Post no 11 🤓

Esel

Yeah, wouldn't the header tank need to be drained to stop the flow. Turn off the mains and run cold taps (not kitchen obviously) until the flow stops.

IANAP, but I think there is a spray can available which can be used to freeze the water in a section of pipe to stop the flow temporarily.

This might be a lot easier than draining the header tank.

santana75

Ok so I went up to the attic and found a valve that led into the header tank. I turned on the tap in the bathroom then closed that valve in the attic and it didnt work. So out of frustration I went back to the hot press and tried the three valves there again........low and behold it worked! The middle valve in the picture above is the one that controls the flow of water into the upstairs bathroom. I've literally made up a sign and taped it in the hot press for the benefit of anyone who should need to know this in the future.

So now that I know how to turn the water off its on to the reason why I needed to turn it off in the first place: To replace the float valve in the toilet. Has anyone done this, is it a straight swap? Is there anything I need to know before I start to do this job?

Cheers

TheW1zard

Did you buy a whole new siphon?

Does it fit height wise?

santana75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118503346#Comment_118503346

I'll take a picture later of what I bought then post it here, easier than trying to describe it.

santana75

This is what I got. I'm hoping it'll do the job but I have a bad feeling it could be the other part that might need replacing (The part that the arm in the picture is connected to).

septictank

Is it a flushing problem as in it needs 2/3/4 pushes to flush? or is it a filling up problem, too slow, too little?

If its the flushing then it's a Siphon problem or the handle connection could be worn.

Siphon is the workings in the bottom, nothing to do with the float arm.

santana75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118513086#Comment_118513086

Great thanks. Its a refilling problem. The toilet is flushed and then it takes a long time for the cistern to refill.

santana75

Just an update......the part in the photo I posted above has now been installed and the Jacks is working perfectly.

Thanks for all the replies and advice

Paul_Mc1988

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118478022#Comment_118478022

Just a query on this. My toilet is fed from the main supply. Will this be an issue?

Esel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529600#Comment_118529600

Not in real life. Hundreds of thousands of houses probably have this.

The only real issue for you is if the mains supply in your area is turned off for some reason.