odd overflow problem

[stardanny]

But an overflow from a roof tank would never come out of the wall at first floor level.

Tony

We have it in my area, a lot of them in houses built in the 70/80 where it run from loft tank down behind bathroom wall and cloakroom before going through wall to outside.

Dan.

 

[low drains drifter]

Hmm, it should have cold water tank in there somewhere, as that cylinder is vented, what about cold feed to bathroom? Where that come from?

Maybe need look harder, have a look up in loft, see if there is one large tank or a tank for each flat.

Where I work, we have flats in large building and there is a 50 gallon cold water tank (24 of them ) each, serving top, middle and ground floor flats, bit of a nightmare finding which one is running overflow.
The hot water is a gas fired heater x 6 and is cold feed from huge 1000 gallon section cold water tank.

Dan.

bathroom feed I think is gravity fed as I can stop the flow of water by putting my finger over the tap.

certainly think that the loft is my next option but as said earlier I'm not allowed to work in there

I'm glad you mentioned the 3 tank as that would explain the overflow from one floor.

 

[low drains drifter]

I would be normal to have a cold tank on the loft/roof.

Your plumber could have looked at that as long as access is available.

But an overflow from a roof tank would never come out of the wall at first floor level.

Tony

all valid points but I'm not an expert so I've got to sift through what other people are telling me.

 

[Agile]

What should be done is to pour water into the loft tank overflow and see where it comes out!

 

[low drains drifter]

What should be done is to pour water into the loft tank overflow and see where it comes out!

That's a good suggestion or at least push the ball cock down to let the water flow in.

 

[low drains drifter]

What should be done is to pour water into the loft tank overflow and see where it comes out!

I've arranged with the factors to meet with their plumber to see if there is a cold water tank in the roof space. I'm going to take Agile's advice and pour water in the tank and also hold down the ball cock to see where it overflows. Is there anything else I should try while we are there? Or anything to look for?

 

[Agile]

I would never hold down the ball valve.

If I did that and the overflow was not correctly terminated and flooded a flat then I would be help to blame. I have to minimise risks when doing work for people!

While there you should see if the ball valve is dripping!

Tony

 

[low drains drifter]

Something that just passed through my mind. Many years ago when I was repairing cars I had a mini that had a punctured float in the petrol tank. So, when I filled up with petrol it would take a number of hours to show that the tank was full as the float was full of petrol. The float would gradually rise to the top. Could the same thing happen to a water float in a cold water tank? How could I check this?

 

[Agile]

No!

You can look at it.

In your mini you cannot!

Tony