Last night a bit of water was dripping through our bathroom ceiling.
I had a quick look and will be doing more of an investigation after writing this.
So far it looks like the ballcock didn't completely shut off the water entering the cold water tank in the roof, there was a trickle entering the tank when I looked. Can ballcock valves sometimes fail because they are too old, too low quality, or whatever? The level of the water in the tank was so high it was spilling over into the overflow pipe. And below the overflow pipe outlet, next to the tank, there was a puddle of water on the top of the ceiling of the bathroom. So it looks like the overflow pipe may be either leaking or blocked. Is that a very common thing to be happening?
I bent the rod that holds the float so that the whole float would have to be under water for the overflow pipe to flood, hoping that this would apply more pressure to the ballcock valve, and it seems to have done the trick for now.
UPDATE: I had a look at the overflow pipe from the cold water tank. It leads across the roof space and disappears into a gable wall. But when I go outside and look to see where it comes out of that gable wall there is no trace of a pipe of any kind. And whilst outside the house looking at the external walls I cannot see an extra overflow pipe anywhere. There is a central heater overflow pipe which I can trace back to the central heater header tank, and a small copper pipe which was at one time for the toilet cistern. What could have happened? The house is 50 years old, could it have be like this for 50 years and never become a problem because the ballcock did its job properly?
I am going to pour a little water into the overflow pipe inside the cold water storage tank see what happens.
UPDATE 2: I poured a bit of water down the overflow pipe and sure enough it dribbled out of the bend in the pipe outside the tank and the water dripped down onto the inside of the bathroom ceiling. I placed a big tray to catch any drips. Now that the ballcock seems to be doing its job I will see about getting the tank replaced. I can keep my eye on it to make sure the ballcock isn't dripping and if it is I can switch off the feed using the tap which controls the flow of water into the ballcock. And switch it off overnight as a precaution.
Any comments and advice welcome.
So, roughly what would it cost to have a new cold water tank installed? The one I have is 50 years old, fiberglass, and seems to have some cracks appearing at the top. Will probably have to be a coffin tank to get into the roof space. To get a better head of water I may ask for it to be placed a bit higher. And hopefully the overflow from the cold water tank and the overflow from the central heater head tank can use the same exit point through the eves of the roof, so no core-cutting required?
I had a quick look and will be doing more of an investigation after writing this.
So far it looks like the ballcock didn't completely shut off the water entering the cold water tank in the roof, there was a trickle entering the tank when I looked. Can ballcock valves sometimes fail because they are too old, too low quality, or whatever? The level of the water in the tank was so high it was spilling over into the overflow pipe. And below the overflow pipe outlet, next to the tank, there was a puddle of water on the top of the ceiling of the bathroom. So it looks like the overflow pipe may be either leaking or blocked. Is that a very common thing to be happening?
I bent the rod that holds the float so that the whole float would have to be under water for the overflow pipe to flood, hoping that this would apply more pressure to the ballcock valve, and it seems to have done the trick for now.
UPDATE: I had a look at the overflow pipe from the cold water tank. It leads across the roof space and disappears into a gable wall. But when I go outside and look to see where it comes out of that gable wall there is no trace of a pipe of any kind. And whilst outside the house looking at the external walls I cannot see an extra overflow pipe anywhere. There is a central heater overflow pipe which I can trace back to the central heater header tank, and a small copper pipe which was at one time for the toilet cistern. What could have happened? The house is 50 years old, could it have be like this for 50 years and never become a problem because the ballcock did its job properly?
I am going to pour a little water into the overflow pipe inside the cold water storage tank see what happens.
UPDATE 2: I poured a bit of water down the overflow pipe and sure enough it dribbled out of the bend in the pipe outside the tank and the water dripped down onto the inside of the bathroom ceiling. I placed a big tray to catch any drips. Now that the ballcock seems to be doing its job I will see about getting the tank replaced. I can keep my eye on it to make sure the ballcock isn't dripping and if it is I can switch off the feed using the tap which controls the flow of water into the ballcock. And switch it off overnight as a precaution.
Any comments and advice welcome.
So, roughly what would it cost to have a new cold water tank installed? The one I have is 50 years old, fiberglass, and seems to have some cracks appearing at the top. Will probably have to be a coffin tank to get into the roof space. To get a better head of water I may ask for it to be placed a bit higher. And hopefully the overflow from the cold water tank and the overflow from the central heater head tank can use the same exit point through the eves of the roof, so no core-cutting required?
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