DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

hi anyone any ideas i have very good mains pressure in kitchen tap but tank in loft taking 2 or 3 hours to fill.have pushed ballvalves down in storage tank and header tank and they both only let a trickle of water through.changed ballvalve in storage tank, to make sure that both ballvalves were not faulty, but did not make a difference.could it be a blockage somewhere. thanks in advance. bill

This is a bit weird.

My first thought is there an isolator valve for the tanks in the airing cupboard? (I am assuming here that the tanks are above the cupboard). It could be the valve is only partially open, or something has happened to it. Trace the pipe from the header tank back as far as you can.

Normally if debris gets into a system it ends up blocking the ball valves not blocking pipes.

hi thanks for answering.yes tanks are above airing cupd.have traced water main back to where it dissapears under floor in cupd and there are no valves of any kind in the pipework.i know the water is very hard in this area and there is lots of big lumps of scale in bottom of tanks.wondered if this could be what is blocking the pipe further back down the line.

I still think it's unlikely the pipe is blocked. I may be wrong, but have never seen it happen. Hard water doesn't block copper in the way it does to iron and if debris gets into the pipe, what is it being caught on to block it? It usually ends up in a ballcock somewhere.

You haven't mentioned the water pressure in the bathroom. Is it good? If you put your thumb over the tap how difficult is it to stop the water coming out?

Remember service valves are quite tiny. Have you checked under the lagging in the loft?

yes have taken off lagging and no sign of any valves.when i was at the house in question there was hardly any water coming out of hot and cold taps upstairs but thats because the tank only had few inches of water in it.had exactly the same problem in a house today so did exactly what i did in other house ie change the whole ballvalve and it worked perfectly.

Ok, so the bath cold and very probably the toilet could be fed from the header tank, but the hand basin cold should be mains fed because it's classified as drinking water.

Maybe the problem is between the kitchen and the bathroom then. I have seen stop taps break up and the washer and brass bits arrive in upstairs ball valves. Maybe you should check that possibility.

This is what I would try. You'll need 2 people though.

First turn of the water at the mains.

Next completely remove the ball valve in the loft tank.

Next get your assistant to slowly turn on the water main.

If they can turn the main tap all the way on and there's no major water rushing into the tank, you have either a blockage or another valve somewhere causing the problem.

Make sure helper can hear you otherwise you or the house will get very wet!

thanks i would have done that but had noone with me. also there was a few downlights wired into the ceiling and they were fairly close to where the tank was situated so thought i better not try that.will let you all know the outcome if i hear what the problem is / was.