Any plumbers on here?

[X5Sport]

Folks, I need a bit of advice.

We’ve recently had a new ball-valve fitted to our main cold water tank in the loft. The plumber that did it managed to drop fibreglass loft insulation into the tank whilst the cold taps upstairs were running so as to get the water level down.

Unsurprisingly both cold taps promptly blocked! The company came back and have spent several hours trying to sort the issue. One tap has been cleared by removing the fibreglass from the tap cartridge and things are working again. However the flow from the second tap is still about 1/3rd of what it should be. The plumber is telling me that the only fix will be a complete replacement of the pipe to that bathroom.

Doing that means removing built in furniture, lifting carpets and lifting the chipboard flooring. The alternative would be to pull every ceiling along the route!

Is there any other way of cleaning a pipe, such as gently pumping water backwards to try and dislodge the (probably fibreglass) that will have caught on a bend somewhere along the 20ft or so of 15mm copper? Has anyone tried this and had any success? I’m obviously wary of applying a lot of pressure in case that makes things worse (such as by blowing a joint!). If I can get just enough to dislodge the rubbish, even if it’s enough to allow it around the bends then job done.

I’ll be talking with the parent organisation to the plumbers to see what they plan to do given it was their employee who caused the whole issue. I’m a lot less than impressed!

[Leslie]

I'm not a plumber but I think id be getting some clothes line which would be flexible but still rigid enough to go through and not damage the pipe as its plastic coated and and sticking it down the pipe either end if need be and see what pops out before it be considering replacing pipe. I believe they can cut some discrete holes now and feed it through so it wont be as big a job as it sounds ( goodluck)

[X5Sport]

An interesting thought. The ‘challenge’ being it’s a single pipe from the tank but it feeds two toilets and two hand basins which are in opposite directions. My estimate is at least 5 90° bends and some ‘T’ joins. We don’t know the exact route the pipes have taken either. I know there are radars now that can find (and graphically display) an image of the pipes, wires, purlins, wood beams etc.

The belief being some of the fibreglass has hung up on one of the joints/bends.

It might be possible to get a ‘mouse tail’ (it’s what we called them in the workshop I worked in 40 years ago) made of plastic and similar to a washing line and see if that can get through.

I’ve also seen that back flushing using a hose reel might work as long as the tank is emptied. I have a submersible pump that can also possibly be used to provide pressure. If all the other pipes are closed off then it ought to be possible to force (or even release) the hang up and if it slows forward, clear the pipe.

Thank you for the idea, I am pondering and will see what my energy supplier comes up with. It was their subbie who caused this in the first place.

[Leslie]

It can't be badly stuck wouldn't take much to free it , there is probably a union can be undone like under the sink etc and get a hose on or even one of those sink plungers on the tank bottom outlet to force it through with the tap off , putting insulation in the tank instead of a plug was a bit of a silly idea though !
plan B compressed air and prepare for a mess at other end