Plumbing-Basic
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In order to repair a
leak, run new pipes or service a toilet cistern, it is necessary to be able to
drain various parts of the system.
Water is supplied to a house
under relatively high mains' pressure. In most houses it is directed via the
rising main pipe to a cold water storage cistern in the loft. A pipe connected
to the rising main feeds drinking water directly to the kitchen sink. All other
taps and fittings, including the hot water storage cylinder, are supplied
indirectly by a low pressure gravity fed system from the storage
cistern.
To drain the cold water
kitchen tap and pipe:
• Close the stopcock on the rising
main
• Open the tap to empty the short length of pipe.
To drain cold water taps in
the bathroom/to drain the cistern:
• Shut off the cold feed
valve from the storage cistern in the loft.
• Run the bathroom
taps.
or:
• If there is no
isolating valve, shut off the supply of water to the cistern by tying the arm
of the float valve to a batten placed across the top.
• Run the
taps to drain the cistern. Use this method if you ever need to work on the
cistern itself.
To drain a toilet
cistern:
• Tie up the float-valve arm.
• Flush
the toilet.
If you need to work on the supply
pipe to the cistern, shut off the water supply from the storage cistern in the
loft (see above).
To drain hot water
taps:
• Turn off the immersion heater and the central heating
boiler.
• Shut off the supply of water from the storage cistern in
the loft to the hot water cylinder.
• Run off the water from the
hot taps.
To drain the hot water
cylinder:
Attach a hose to the draincock at the base of the cylinder. If
the cylinder contains a heat exchanger fed from the boiler, this can only be
emptied through the boiler draincock.
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