I think I have an air lock

[devonlass]

Help please, Im a single mum so on a limited budget but quite handy at DIY. I have fitted a new sink in my kitchen, it work fine, BUT I have no cold water upstairs and my cistern doesnt fill, I belive this is caused by an air lock, I went to bed last night and I did find my cistern full today and I got a very slow flow from the cold tap but this is slowing fast and the cistern hasnt as yet refilled after a couple hours, taking into account I am a woman please can anyone advise how best to solve this without having to call a plumber out. It was suggested that I use a hose pipe and connect it to outside tap then bath tap and turn on the force water through to clear the air lock, is this the best way or is there a simpler way? I would so appreciate some advise, as detailed as possible please as I dont have the knowledge for tech stuff.

 

[Nige F]

That suggestion is a good one .......only other way is a mains pressure tap inside/nearer bath

 

[ollski]

If the tank isn't filling then surely the ball valve is stuck.

 

[devonlass]

ollski that was my first though, I did say Im quite good at DIY, plus it does say in my thread that the taps are affected too, and the cistern does fill but very slowly at a trickle.

Nige, I will try it later, my only worry is that the back flow of water will flood my loft lol.

 

[ollski]

it does say in my thread that the taps are affected too

But are they mains fed or tank fed?, you can't airlock the mains so if you are getting no mains it may be that the main stopcock is stuck almost shut.

 

[devonlass]

The tap in the kitchen is mains and is working fine, upstairs is tank fed and thats where i have the problem.

 

[gas engin]

sounds like the ball valve is stuck where did u turn the water off to do the work? if you turned it off at the main tap then its deff your ball valve about £5 really easy to do
the components can get stuck so it only lets a trickle out

 

[chrishutt]

When you turned the water off and on again debris from the stop tap (disintegrating washer, etc) might have carried through to the float valve (ball valve in old speak) and blocked the orifice. Turn the water of again and try dismantling the float valve to clean it.

 

[devonlass]

Hi Guys, thank you for the advice, just letting you all know I did fix it with a hose pipe, no cost, just put one end of hose to outside tap, other end on bath tap, turned on bath tap, turned on outside tap, let blast for 20 seconds, hey presto!!!!!!!!!!! All working and job done in 5 mins