i turned the cold water off to connect my washing machine, after i had finished i turned all water back on the hot water is fine but the cold water in the bathroom and downstairs toilet has no cold water out of the taps and tonight when i came home from work the central heating pipes were banging so i have had to turn eveything off

rob gladwell, November 2009

That happened in a house I lived in. Rang the landlord and this is what he told me to do:

If you have a mixer tap its easier. If not you need a hose pipe that you connect the hot tap to the cold.

If it is a mixer then you block the nozzle off with a rubber glove and hold on tight.

Then you open the cold tap - nothing comes out!

Then turn on hot tap so you are sending hot water backwards up in to the cold tap.

Do this for about 30 seconds and take careful steps not to be burnt!!!!

This causes the the air lock in the pipes to clear.

Then turn off all the taps, remove the hose / rubber gloves and turn on the cold tap.

If it worked there will be a bit of spluttering and it will work again.

It happened all the time because we used the cold water faster than it could refill in the tank in the loft- which is how the airlock comes about.

Perhaps it would better not to take a bath whilst doing the washing!

natasha, November 2009