Blocked cold bathroom basin mixer tap

[nv_london]

Hi all,

The cold water was only dribbling out of the bathroom basin tap.

I isolated the water and took the handles and spout off. I checked the cold cartridge, it visually looked fine but I swapped it with the hot one just in case, put everything back together but still the same issue (arguably worse as there's now no cold water coming out of the tap whatsoever. Cold cartridge works fine on the hot side).

I can confirm that mains water does reach the cold tap when there's no cartridge in place.

I'm assuming there's a major blockage in the mixer tap between the cartridge and the spout and that I'd have to replace the whole thing (remove tiles etc ) - but if anybody has any ideas before I do that, I'd be very grateful. Thanks

 

[HERTS P&D]

Air-lock?

Put put valves back on and then open the cold side and then place the palm of your hand under the spout, slowly open the hot side. Can you feel water passing through the spout from the hot side to the cold? If you can do this for 30 secounds, it should remove the air-lock.
Thats if you have a gravity system.

Andy

 

[opps]

I can confirm that mains water does reach the cold tap when there's no cartridge in place.

Out of interest- how did you confirm that?

 

[nv_london]

Air-lock?

Put put valves back on and then open the cold side and then place the palm of your hand under the spout, slowly open the hot side. Can you feel water passing through the spout from the hot side to the cold? If you can do this for 30 secounds, it should remove the air-lock.
Thats if you have a gravity system.

Andy

It's main cold and combi hot - so not gravity fed (but I tried anyway and just got a load of spray!)

 

[nv_london]

Out of interest- how did you confirm that?

I removed the handle/cartridge, slackened off the isolation valve under the basin and water started coming out of the cold outlet (where the cartridge screws into)

Are you thinking that 'not enough' water is getting there? (TBH, I quickly closed the isolation valve when water started coming out so I don't know 'how much' water is actually reaching the tap).