Water cistern
 

Must be my week for pipework problems, and I don't think dry bread
will solve this one.....

I've been asked to fix a toilet cistern. The plunger into which the
bent wire attached to the cistern handle is physically broken, so I'm
looking at replacing the syphon assembly. No issue there, looks very
straightforward.

Problem is that I can't get the water feed switched off. I turned the
house mains supply off and (eventually - it's a big house) drained the
system, but it kept coming thru in spurts even after an hour. Seemed
to me that this water supply was going to keep throwing water at me
for some time to come.

Someone in the past has built a surround around the pipework behind
the toilet, under the cistern, and wallpapered without leaving an
access hole. Now I suspect there will most probably be a shut off
valve under there somewhere, and I'm going back tomorrow with a view
to drilling out an access hole so that I can get my hand in. Then
hopefully I can shut off the water supply to the cistern and deal with
the syphon.

I'm curious as to how one might shut off a water supply which doesn't
appear to have a valve in the pipework? Only thing I can think of is
to freeze the pipe so as to create an ice bung - is that doable with
one of these pipe freezing aerosols I've seen in the sheds? It's
always struck me that this was a bit of a gimmick, but maybe it's time
for me to give it a try. If the pipe bung works, how long have I got
before it thaws out? A couple of minutes?

PoP

Water cistern
 

"PoP" wrote in message
...
Must be my week for pipework problems, and I don't think dry bread
will solve this one.....

I've been asked to fix a toilet cistern. The plunger into which the
bent wire attached to the cistern handle is physically broken, so I'm
looking at replacing the syphon assembly. No issue there, looks very
straightforward.

Problem is that I can't get the water feed switched off. I turned the
house mains supply off and (eventually - it's a big house) drained the
system, but it kept coming thru in spurts even after an hour. Seemed
to me that this water supply was going to keep throwing water at me
for some time to come.

Someone in the past has built a surround around the pipework behind
the toilet, under the cistern, and wallpapered without leaving an
access hole. Now I suspect there will most probably be a shut off
valve under there somewhere, and I'm going back tomorrow with a view
to drilling out an access hole so that I can get my hand in. Then
hopefully I can shut off the water supply to the cistern and deal with
the syphon.

I'm curious as to how one might shut off a water supply which doesn't
appear to have a valve in the pipework? Only thing I can think of is
to freeze the pipe so as to create an ice bung - is that doable with
one of these pipe freezing aerosols I've seen in the sheds? It's
always struck me that this was a bit of a gimmick, but maybe it's time
for me to give it a try. If the pipe bung works, how long have I got
before it thaws out? A couple of minutes?

PoP

You need to shut the supply off and open an outlet below the level of the
cistern feed. If the cistern is above the ground floor then open a cold tap
on the ground floor. You also need to empty any cold pipework above the
cistern. Open all cold taps above the level you are working on long enough
to let the water drain out to the open low point tap, you will here air
enter as the water drains out. If there is stored hot water, run some off.
This will open the float valve in the cold water storage cistern and drain
the feed pipe to that. If there are any other toilets above the level at
which you are working and they are on the same feed line, then flush them,
this drains the feed pipes to them. Your pipes should now be empty above
you, and any more water entering will come out of the open tap at the lowest
point.

Water cistern
 

PoP wrote:
I've been asked to fix a toilet cistern. The plunger into which
the bent wire attached to the cistern handle is physically
broken, so I'm looking at replacing the syphon assembly. No
issue there, looks very straightforward.

Problem is that I can't get the water feed switched off.

If you don't need to change the valve, can't you just tie up
the float arm and replace the syphon as normal? You might
like to unscrew the float to get a bit more room to work in.

be !
Shop all amazing products and get our special offers!

Water cistern
 

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 16:54:27 GMT, "jerrybuilt"
] wrote:

If you don't need to change the valve, can't you just tie up
the float arm and replace the syphon as normal? You might
like to unscrew the float to get a bit more room to work in.

That would be nice, but unfortunately the cistern is one of these that
is bolted directly onto the back of the loo - no gap between cistern
and loo. So I've got to lift the cistern off to get at the bottom end
of the syphon assembly.

I've just bought a can of Arctic Spray. Looks like it might help, but
I'm dealing with only a short length of pipe as it comes out of the
woodwork behind the loo - most likely not enough room to apply the
spray, and there's no other exposed pipework anywhere in the vicinity.

Probably have to cut an access hole in the woodwork behind the loo,
where I will hopefully find a cutoff valve. If so then job is done,
otherwise I'll be working against time to freeze the pipe and install
a cutoff valve before it unfreezes.

PoP

Water cistern
 

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 19:37:37 +0100, PoP wrote:

I've just bought a can of Arctic Spray.

And the collar assembly that goes around the pipe that you squirt the
contents of the can into I hope.

otherwise I'll be working against time to freeze the pipe and
install a cutoff valve before it unfreezes.

Doesn't take long to cut a pipe and whack a valve on. Though if you
haven't opened taps above and below where you are working I suspect
the spurting you reported is due to air trying to get in where the
water is trying to get out. Think of gluging bottles etc...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Water cistern
 

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 20:58:09 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

I've just bought a can of Arctic Spray.

And the collar assembly that goes around the pipe that you squirt the
contents of the can into I hope.

Yep. Just tried it on a spider for good measure. Made a rather neat
little trinket for a short time. Not sure the spider thought much of
it though.

And I can't see why people want to be frozen after they've passed on.
There's no chance they could ever be brought back from where they've
gone.

Doesn't take long to cut a pipe and whack a valve on. Though if you
haven't opened taps above and below where you are working I suspect
the spurting you reported is due to air trying to get in where the
water is trying to get out. Think of gluging bottles etc...

Understood.

PoP

Water cistern
 

The pipe freezer work just like they say on the tin, if you follow what it says on the tin exactly.

You could always hold the ball valve up somehow .........

Rick


On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 16:00:38 +0100, PoP wrote:
Must be my week for pipework problems, and I don't think dry bread
will solve this one.....

I've been asked to fix a toilet cistern. The plunger into which the
bent wire attached to the cistern handle is physically broken, so I'm
looking at replacing the syphon assembly. No issue there, looks very
straightforward.

Problem is that I can't get the water feed switched off. I turned the
house mains supply off and (eventually - it's a big house) drained the
system, but it kept coming thru in spurts even after an hour. Seemed
to me that this water supply was going to keep throwing water at me
for some time to come.

Someone in the past has built a surround around the pipework behind
the toilet, under the cistern, and wallpapered without leaving an
access hole. Now I suspect there will most probably be a shut off
valve under there somewhere, and I'm going back tomorrow with a view
to drilling out an access hole so that I can get my hand in. Then
hopefully I can shut off the water supply to the cistern and deal with
the syphon.

I'm curious as to how one might shut off a water supply which doesn't
appear to have a valve in the pipework? Only thing I can think of is
to freeze the pipe so as to create an ice bung - is that doable with
one of these pipe freezing aerosols I've seen in the sheds? It's
always struck me that this was a bit of a gimmick, but maybe it's time
for me to give it a try. If the pipe bung works, how long have I got
before it thaws out? A couple of minutes?

PoP