Both Hot & cold taps in the bathroom run out of water. W All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[saraha]

I have a problem that both hot & cold taps in the bathroom sink and bath run out of water. If I put my palm over the mixer tap in the bath & turn both hot & cold on full creating a vacuum I can hear air bubbles going back round the system & this allows a tiny bit more water to be released, but quite often I can only fill the bath with a two or three inches of water. The house was built in the 30's. Obviously this also means the toilet won't flush. How can I solve this? If I need a plumber what will he need to do? And what kind of cost am I looking at?

[Perry525]

I would guess that you have a cold water tank in the loft?
The tank is either undersized (unlikely) or someone has bent the arm on the ball valve, stopping the tank from filling, or there is a fault with the ball valve, or you have too many people trying to take a bath, wash the car, flush the loo, at the same time and the water supply cannot keep up.
Depending on how many people there are to use the cold water, the tank needs to be at least 25 gallons for two people or 50 gallons for more.
A small tank can be encouraged to fill twice a quick, by adding another ball valve.
Lets know how you get on, with your trip to the loft to find out, which it is.

[htg engineer]

Sounds like both hot and cold to the bathroom are tank fed ?

if so then probably just replacement ball valves to the tanks. They'll be filling the tanks slower than the water is being drawn off


htg

[saraha]

Thanks guys. That sounds great & fairly simple to sort. Yes both hot & cold tanks are in the loft so I will definately check the ball valves over the weekend & replace if necessary. I will let you know how I get on.