I have a problem in my house this morning. I got up and turned on the cold tap, the water came out with a good pressure but it was spluttering and banging and the amount of water got worse until it was just a fine mist coming out, although the pressure seemed to be the same. I tried the hot tap and got the same. Same with both taps in the kitchen.
I've no idea about plumbing I'm afraid, but I can't understand how there is so much air coming out of the taps - when there is no water, there is a good pressure of air being forced out. We don't have a water tank. I believe the supply to all taps comes from the same source and comes through the boiler (perhaps only the hot water does?).
If you have no water tank, then its likely that your local water board is doing some work nearby and air has got into the main, it should clear its self once they have completed the work, try to purge your system by turning on all taps (all cold ones first) a small amount in turn and wait for the air to clear. Be careful clearing the toilet system as what once happened on mine was that the air/water mixture blew off a small plastic diverter in the cistern making the water go upwards, and hence water leaked out all over the floor.
Call your water supplier. They've probably had a burst overnight and had to repair it this lets air into the system. This air has to come out somewhere, generally they'd open a washout valve (WO) and let most out that way but some still ends up comeing through the taps. Maybe you hit the period when there was still lots of air in the system as well.
When you return home run the cold tap for a good while to flush through any mucky water.
Thanks Jon. I gave Thames Water a call and they said that they were doing some work nearby between midnight at 4am. Perhaps it's just a hangover from that? I'll try what you suggested when I get home and see if it clears up.
Thanks Dave. I just remembered that it did this a little bit last week (spluttering, but the water never actually stopped), but cleared up quickly enough (like within 5 or so seconds) and it had never done it before. Do you think it could be related, or was it possible that they were doing work then too? I think what I'm wondering is if it's possible the system is somehow sucking air in through the overflow (not sure how plausible this is - I generally have no idea!!).
Before opening other taps, I would recommend running the kitchen cold tap, or whichever is nearest the incoming main to flush out any grit that may have been introduced into the main or loosened in it during the work.
There may be more over the next few days, so if you have a roof tank, keep an eye on the overflow and also on the toilets. Small pieces of grit have a habit of ending up in the ball valve nozzles and stopping them from closing properly. You won't get a flood, but maybe a small overflow. If this happens, you need to turn off the water, take the valve apart and clean the bits.
.... and you may want to try to put off using your washing machine over the next few days, as you may find your lovely white clothes turn grey due to the debris.
From your previous decription I don't think your system has an overflow as it is a sealed system combination boiler. There will be a pipe that looks like an overflow on the outside of the house near where the boiler is located but this is a pressure relief vent to stop the boiler going bang if the flow through it stops and the burner doesn't shut off.
There was work done on our main on wednesday got a letter telling us it would be off from 0900 to 1500. Mains water is a fairly recent addition to this house so the rising main goes straight up to several storage tanks. Now wishing to get them full of muddy water I turned off the street stopcock before 0900 and fitted a pipe and hose to flush water through once it came back on. Come 1600 I could see they had stopped work on the main a couple of miles away so turned our supply back on, big hissing noise. Investigate end of hose, massive suction, enough to pull my fingers over the end from 1/4" away. Turn it all off and call the water board, almost but not quite next to useless, I don't think any of the teletubbies understood what the word "suction" or the phrase "drawing air in, fast" meant. The only plus point is that we are going to get compensation without having to ask.
Don't know when the water came back but it was on at 1000 the next morning but so where the workers, so I left it off again until they went. An intresting excercise used just over half of our tank supply in that 24hrs with only some conservation. Kids shared their bath water, only one lot of washing up and no washing machine.
You won't, you have no stored water. If the mains fails that's it nothing, not even a cup of tea. A *serious* drawback to combis IMHO and one that many people won't realise until the mains fails and they have to join the queue in the shops for bottled water, always assuming they are quick enough and the all shops haven't sold out...
Follow up - You were all quite right. After much spluttering, banging and getting only slightly drenched(!) it settled down. There wasn't much grit and stuff came out either, just lots of air. Anyway, it's fine now so thanks very much to all for your help.
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