The cistern has been making a right racket (almost like pipe hammer) as the valve opens to fill the cistern. It is a side entry valve with a level and a ballcock. Looking online most valves now seem to be a different design and look like they won't fit in the cistern.
What is the best way of curing this issue? I can find a cheap side entry valve the same, but it is cheap plastic rubbish (around £4). Any suggestions, turning on the cold tap to reduce the pressure stops the noise but that isn't practical and the cistern tank then takes forever to fill.
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Is there an isolator valve on the water inlet? All of our have them so you can just turn the screw to isolate the water, but you can also use them to drop the pressure a little
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>> Is there an isolator valve on the water inlet? All of our have them so
>> you can just turn the screw to isolate the water, but you can also use
>> them to drop the pressure a little.
>> Or Flow!
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Does the ball bounce when it's filling? Has it got water in it, and is it now heavy? Is there lots of play in the arm somewhere? Have you had it apart is there grit or a tear in washer? It should be possible to buy a proper brass replacement ball cock.
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I actually plumbed the cistern in a few years ago, and fitted an isolation valve at the time as there wasnt one before, I used it t reduce the pressure, which solved the problem for a few months. It has just returned today and is now worse than ever.
I checked the ballcock was empty a few months back and it was fine, I am not sure where the washer is I am supposed to be looking for? We had a lot of building work done earlier this year which involved rebuilding apart of the party wall so it resulted in lots of dust and debris every where, the cistern is a mess inside as a result.
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Is this an old-style cistern with brass bits and pieces, or a modern plastic thing?
Has it always been noisy or has something changed?
Replacing the rubber valve seal might help. Old-style, remove the brass split pin, slide out the plunger, grip it in a vice and unscrew one end, releasing the rubber washer.
Plastic - unscrew the big plastic nut to release the mechanism.
There are two alternative cone jets, one for high pressure (mains) and one for low (roof tank). They look like the attachments for a kitchen icing gun.
Is there meant to be a bit of plastic pipe or flappy tubing on the inlet leading the flow below water level? This quietens the flow, but may be missing or has fallen off.
Is the supply pipe well-supported on the wall or skirting to stop it vibrating? Is it touching another pipe or obstruction and rattling? Wedge a bit of foam rubber between.
Last edited by: Cliff Pope on Wed 14 Sep 16 at 09:41
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I had the same problem a few months ago. I cured it by replacing the lot with one of these modern ball-less inlets. Worthwhile upgrade as it is a much better system.
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The pipe just comes out of a boxed section, then goes to flexipipe with an isolation valve I fitted. The cistern itself is just a cheap piece of plastic junk. The problem is if I replace the valve with one of these more modern ballless designs the siphon looks like it will be in the way.
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>>The problem is if I replace the valve with one of these more modern ballless designs the siphon looks like it will be in the way.
I would be surprised.
tinyurl.com/htnahml
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I'd start at the cheapest option & work my way up.
1/ renew washer, easypeasy 50p
2/ replace ball valve like for like, fairly easy, £10
3/ fit ball valve damper, which clamps onto the ballvalve arm and a flat paddle sits below water level & stops the ball oscillating rapidly causing noisy operation.
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Just Googled ball valve damper.
A diy site suggests suspending a yoghurt cup or similar, from the ball arm using stiff wire the cup is immersed in the water, stopping the ball oscillating.
This would be my first choice (free)
Last edited by: maltrap on Wed 14 Sep 16 at 16:14
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That's what I did! - hung one of my 6oz fishing weights off the ball-arm, - works a treat, been there about 5years now!
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My guess is you have water hammer. The ball bounces up and down driven by pulses of water as the bouncing turns it on and off. Like pushing a swing. I have experienced that in the past and cured it -- see below.
You need ball-movement resistance to damp it out. Much like you put oil in shock absorbers. They had to do something on the new London bridge that swayed side to side when people walked across. I would have thought, a well qualified mechanic could have told them there was risk. In electronic circuits we call it resonance.
On my ball I put a flat, horizontal, aluminium plate underneath it. Edge on from the side it looked like an L The lower part about as wide and as long as the ball diameter. The upright about 3cm longer than half the ball diameter so you can put a hole in the upright, near it's top, that the rod to the ball goes through and fixed by a nut. The plate should be about 15mm, or more, below the bottom of the ball.
What you are aiming at is the resistance to moving the ball+ plate up and down through the water is such that the up and down bounce is damped out. The swing may be so small you have not realized that it is happening. Try a gentle finger, just touching the top of the ball when it is happening and see if you can feel it.
The size of the plate is usually a matter of experiment as to what is enough, but what I have stated is probably good enough.
Now you know what to do you can try other things. You might try dangling something on a bit of string below the ball with the string tied round the rod close to the ball. A tin can, open end upwards, that is riddled with holes. Unlike the aluminium plate, it will only damp the ball swing during the up stroke. On the down stroke the string slackens. And the 'string' should not stretch.
The can must not be resting on anything --- like the bottom of the tank.
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>>You need ball-movement resistance to damp it out.
Makes sense that. For similar reasons I find I favour especially snug underpants when I'm mountain biking.
;-)
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I have fixed the problem now, I simply changed the valve like for like, I may upgrade to the newer type but I will need to change some plumbing as the siphon is in the way, so I would either need to move the handle to the left which would look odd, or extend the pipes so the valve is left side entry instead of the right at the moment.
I want to change the flexipipe anyway as it has a slight kink in it so I wont be happy with that long term in case it fails.
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I didn't realise that crusties were worn under Lycra...Runfer, have you tried Icebreaker men's everyday boxer with fly? Quite snug fitting. I use them for all my backpacking and long distance walking in all temperatures. And skiing. Great at temperature regulation and non chaffing. I discovered the Icebreaker range years ago and persuaded my boss to introduce them in our outdoor gear store to great success. Well worth the price for the comfort alone
Apologies for thread drift
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>> I didn't realise that crusties were worn under Lycra...Runfer, have you tried Icebreaker men's everyday
>> boxer with fly?
>>Well worth the price for the comfort alone
What, like these?
tinyurl.com/jotfbk5
35 quid!!
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Yes Duncan. I managed to buy several pairs at trade price when working in the outdoor gear retail industry, but now have to pay full price, although Cotswold always give 15%.
If, like me, you do wild camping backpacking trips, anything from a long weekend to 2 months+, then base layer comfort is of the utmost importance!
For anything else it's £2 cotton crusties from the local market!
Thanks for the link
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Cistern problems - mikeyb
