If you’ve found that there’s no water running out of your taps, before you call in an emergency plumbing service, read our expert guide, which offers advice and guidance on common issues that you could resolve without professional assistance.
Even if you have no experience or skill in plumbing, the checklist we’ve outlined below could help you discover the exact issue with your faucet – the problem may even be completely unrelated to your plumbing supply.
In this article, we’ll go over the common reasons as to why there may be no water flowing from your taps and several checks you could perform to fix the issue.
Have you checked whether the problem is occurring in all your taps?
Examine kitchen and bathroom faucets, as well as any other taps in your property, to determine whether the issue is limited to one tap or more. If water fails to come out of all your faucets, this could indicate a broader plumbing issue.
Before you contact a plumbing company, inspect your stopcock (an externally operated valve often situated under the kitchen sink) and see whether it has been turned off.
Check whether your neighbours are experiencing the same issue
Pop round to your neighbours and confirm whether they are also experiencing issues with the water supply.
If the problem is not isolated to your household, it may be that a water company is working on pipelines or sewers in your area.
If you haven’t been notified of any work being done in your neighbourhood, contact your local water company and inform them of the issue.
Have you inspected your cold water cistern?
You’ve asked your neighbours, your stopcock is open, and you’ve inspected your taps, but there’s no running water in your house? Double-check your cold water storage cistern, more commonly known as the cold water tank, as there could be a defect.
The cold water cistern supplies water to every cold water outlet in your house – both inside and outside faucets – and if the ball valve were jammed, this would result in a lack of water.
Should you find that to be the case, adjust the float arm, dislodge and remove the ball valve so that you give it a thorough clean before reasserting.
It’s also essential to carry out regular maintenance of your ball valves as dirty devices can contaminate water and lead to infections.
Examine your boiler and hot water function
Have you checked to see whether you’re able to dispense cold and hot water?
If cold water is running out of your taps, but you are unable to acquire hot water, it could be that your water heater, boiler or the tank for your Instant Boiling Water Tap is broken or damaged.
While there may be many reasons why your tap’s hot water function isn’t working, the most common problems are leaks, limescale build-up, and boiler pilot light malfunctions.
If you’ve got an Instant Boiling Water Tap, you might find that the tank which boils the water has been unplugged.
Suppose this is the case, drain the tank and allow the boiler to pump fresh water into the receptacle. Once the tank has reheated, your Instant Boiling Water Tap should work as usual, and you’ll be able to enjoy the luxury of instant hot water!
Instant Boiling Water Taps are also more durable and cost-efficient than traditional faucets. Unlike kettles or saucepans, energy isn’t wasted heating water as the tank constantly maintains boiling water temperature.
Inspect your water mains
If you’ve covered the above steps and found that there is still no running water, examine your water mains.
Identify whether there are any leaks, blockages or other defects to your pipes. You could also try closing and reopening your main valve and testing your taps again, as perhaps there was an issue with the valve.
What should I do if some faucets are running water and others appear to be broken?
Have you found that there’s running water in your downstairs taps but not your upstairs faucets? Or, perhaps only the kitchen tap is broken, and there’s water flowing from the rest of the faucets in your household?
Besides the possibility that you could have a leak reducing your overall water pressure, we’ve outlined a few other factors you should consider.
Have you got an airlock in your water pipes?
Your faucet could have an airlock or a vapour lock, which is what happens when air gets trapped in your hot water tap or central heating system and prevents an efficient circulation of water.
In a well-designed low-pressure water system, airlocks tend to clear themselves; however, those of you that need to remove a blockage manually could try:
- Attaching a hosepipe to your hot and cold water faucets (if you have two) and pumping cold water into the hot water tap to clear the airlock.
- You could also try bleeding your radiators, which should release the trapped air and improve the water circulation in your house.
Check to see whether your pipes are frozen?
Identify whether you’ve got a frozen pipe as this could prevent the flow of water from one, several or all your household’s faucets, depending on the location of that pipe.
However, please take precautions when thawing your pipes, do not use any open flames as you risk doing more damage to your water system.
