DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

We recently found that the previous owners of the house had wrongly put the lid on the cold water storage tank in the loft. The insulation was above the water with the lid on top!! This has led to the insulation falling into the water tank. Managed to get the big bulk out, but within a day we have stopped getting cold water into all our upstairs feeds, ie, the bath, toilet, and hand basin. We think a small piece of the insulation may have got into the cold water pipe and blocking the water getting through.

So far we have tried the air blocking technique, but no luck of it pushing the piece of insulation back into the cold water storage tank. We have also tried using a pipe cleaner, pushing it from the opening in the storage tank and along as far as possible, but when it hits a bend in the pipe, we can't get it any further. So...we know that the piece of insulation has travelled qite far and may have hit a horizontal piece of pipe under the floorboards...but are now out of ideas and were hoping someone can offer a solution?! Otherwise its another schorching hot shower tonight!!!! :( and being female I hate not having a decent shower!!!
Please help! Thanks...

Your kitchen sink should be mains fed(not always). So get a length of hose and run it to your up stairs sink cold tap. Use the mains water pressure from down stairs to flow in the tap upstairs(as best you can) to push the blockage back into the cwsc. When it comes out, grab it..... It needs to come out the way it went in or you could push it too far and never find it apart from new pipe work. TWO people needed.
Jackhawk