Water tank full but taps not running

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Hi there.

I turned my water valve off before going on holiday.

I've returned today, turned the valve back on, but there is no water in the taps, or in the toilet to flush.

I've checked the loft and the water is full in the water container.

Have I done something wrong?

Thanks.
 
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do you have no water at cold taps and none at hot taps either ? what valve did you turn off ,and where is it positioned in property ?
 
Hi Terry.

We had a plumber isolate the kitchen sink tap before we went away because there was asbestos near the sink that needed to be removed.

Anyway, I then turned off the entire water system before going away as I read this was a good thing to do when going away.

The stopcock/valve is positioned under the sink and is a brass tap that I turned clockwise.

I since turned it anticlockwise and the water isn't filling the taps by the looks of things.

We had no hot water anyway because the back boiler isn't functioning at the moment.

Any help welcome!

Thanks.
 
I should say, the hot taps, even though it isn't hot water, were running to an extent but seem to dry up if left for a little while. Likewise, there is water in the kitchen taps that were isolated and the shower, but I haven't seen how long for. And the toilet cistern isn't filling up.
 
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the stopcock under the sink ,does it have a red ,round wheel as its handle by any chance ( called a gate valve )?. did plumber leave kitchen taps ( cold and hot ) isolated ? if he has then you would not expect to get any water there. has anybody been working on your plumbing whilst you were away ? if you go to loft tank and by hand push down the float to submerge it ,this should then bring water into the tank .if it does you know the mains stopcock ( that you turned on when you returned from hols ) is allowing water into your premises. if not the stopcock is at fault ,or your supply externally is off.
 
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Thanks Terry.

This is the float and when I press it down water is flowing into the tank.

It seems to be only the cold taps, and now the washing machine, that are affected.
 
This is what under the kitchen sink looks like

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so your stopcock is allowing water to flow into your house plumbing OK if loft tank had good pressure going in to it. i think the tank feeds some of your cold water outlets ( but not the kitchen cold tap which is on the mains ) and the pipes from the tank are airlocked.
 
Thanks Terry.

Does it sound certain that they're airlocked then?

What's the best way to remove the airlock?
 
your cold water taps ,and other cold outlets like toilets /washing machines etc, can be connected directly to the mains supply , or if you have a loft tank ( cold water storage cistern) As you have ,they can be supplied from there. however the kitchen sink cold tap is never from storage and is always directly from the mains. some propertys have a mixture , some things off mains and others from tank. I have no idea what your set up is. but given the fact that your mains appears to be on and loft tank is being supplied ,any cold tap / other outlet connected to mains would be giving you water ,( unless an isolating valve to the individual tap / outlet is off ). you do not get airlocks on mains .so I am drawing the conclusion that those cold taps / outlets that are not giving you water ,are not connected to mains ,but are fed from loft tank .as you have given no indication that you have turned off any other valves relating to the loft tank OUTLET pipework ,then an airlock is suspected. not being there I can't be certain ,but on the info you have supplied it seems likely. if you have a look at the bottom of your loft tank you should see the outlet pipes ,I suspect you have two ,take pics and post back.regards terry
 
To clear an airlock, you need a garden hose. Looks like you have an outside tap, that'll make this easier. Get the end of the garden hose and attach one of those tap clamp on adaptors. Connect this to one of the affected taps and turn on the tap (nothing should happen now as no water will come out). Go outside and turn on the outside tap. You'll need a pair of eyes and a loud voice watching the affected tap to make sure the hose doesn't come loose.

What this should do is push any air locks back up to the tank under mains pressure. You may only need to do one tap for 5-10 seconds. You may see water coming from the tank overflow because you're effectively filling the tank backwards. If the clamp on adaptor pops off the tap under pressure you may have another problem.
 

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