I'm hoping someone can shed some light on my water supply, as it has me very confused... this is a bit involved so I apologise for the essay...
I am wanting to simply fit a new basin in my upstairs bathroom, so need to cut off the water (no handy service valves). The house is very old, but was extensively renovated about 1990, which is when the plumbing was done. There is no central heating and no boiler, just an immersion heater with a cistern above it.
Anyway, as far as I can see I must have a direct system (there is no loft and cold water from the cistern only feeds the immersion heater). After a lot of searching and removing part of the plasterboard by the back door I located what I think is the rising main (next to the kitchen - brass stopcock) - a plumber who had worked on the shower had failed to find the rising main at all previously - it was well hidden!
This leads to the first strange thing - it clearly was from the 1990 renovation (it wasn't ancient) but was positioned such that it was impossible to turn off - the tap was too close to the floor. I actually had to chisel away part of the concrete floor so that it was physically possible to turn it off. This struck me as rather odd.
Anyway, turned off water - then ran the bath and sink on full for about 3 minutes - water didn't stop. Went downstairs and ran the kitchen tap for a couple of minutes - this didn't stop either. Went back upstairs and now the bath had stopped (kitchen water still happily flowing though).
Problem not solved though - the water hadn't completely stopped - it just slowed to a moderate trickle, and after a few minutes more showed no sign of stopping. The sink tap wasn't flowing so long as the bath tap was turned on. Once I turned the bath tap off, the sink started flowing (trickle).
N.B. I'm pretty certain the stopcock was closed - it turned easily.
N.N.B. I turned off the water to the cistern as well just in case - however, the water level never changed (as anticipated).
Ultimately I want to replace the toilet, bath and sink, but appear to be stuck at the first hurdle.
Sorry for the essay - if anyone can shed some light on what is going on and provide any hints as to how I should proceed I'd be very grateful as I'm stumped.
N.B. For the hotwater, I assume I'll have drain the immersion heater tank as there is no gate valve on the hot water exit pipe.
I am wanting to simply fit a new basin in my upstairs bathroom, so need to cut off the water (no handy service valves). The house is very old, but was extensively renovated about 1990, which is when the plumbing was done. There is no central heating and no boiler, just an immersion heater with a cistern above it.
Anyway, as far as I can see I must have a direct system (there is no loft and cold water from the cistern only feeds the immersion heater). After a lot of searching and removing part of the plasterboard by the back door I located what I think is the rising main (next to the kitchen - brass stopcock) - a plumber who had worked on the shower had failed to find the rising main at all previously - it was well hidden!
This leads to the first strange thing - it clearly was from the 1990 renovation (it wasn't ancient) but was positioned such that it was impossible to turn off - the tap was too close to the floor. I actually had to chisel away part of the concrete floor so that it was physically possible to turn it off. This struck me as rather odd.
Anyway, turned off water - then ran the bath and sink on full for about 3 minutes - water didn't stop. Went downstairs and ran the kitchen tap for a couple of minutes - this didn't stop either. Went back upstairs and now the bath had stopped (kitchen water still happily flowing though).
Problem not solved though - the water hadn't completely stopped - it just slowed to a moderate trickle, and after a few minutes more showed no sign of stopping. The sink tap wasn't flowing so long as the bath tap was turned on. Once I turned the bath tap off, the sink started flowing (trickle).
N.B. I'm pretty certain the stopcock was closed - it turned easily.
N.N.B. I turned off the water to the cistern as well just in case - however, the water level never changed (as anticipated).
Ultimately I want to replace the toilet, bath and sink, but appear to be stuck at the first hurdle.
Sorry for the essay - if anyone can shed some light on what is going on and provide any hints as to how I should proceed I'd be very grateful as I'm stumped.
N.B. For the hotwater, I assume I'll have drain the immersion heater tank as there is no gate valve on the hot water exit pipe.
