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Discuss leaking pipe from water tank in loft in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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S

sijh

Can anyone help please.

I have no plumbing knowledge and will explain in simple terms.

I have two water tanks in loft (big and little)
Coming from the bigger tank the pipe that feeds outside is dripping onto our patio. Sometimes its a slow constant dripping and then it can seem to stop altogether. Its quite bad and has filled a bucket in the last few days. In this big tank there is a white tap that is constantly refilling the tank. (even when Ive no taps turned on in the house)

In the small tank when Ive been up in the loft doesnt seem to be doing anything. (i.e no water being fed back in)

Should both the tanks be refilling constantly?

Hope that makes sense.
Can anyone help please. What might be the cause and how to rectify.
thank you

Simon
 
hi simon
what is happening is that your ball cock needs looking at by a plumber, it sounds very much like the washer needs replacing because it shouldn't be running all the time, only when an amount of water is drawn off from a tap in your house then only to replace what was used.

steve
 
Thanks Steve

Yes, ive just been up into the loft this morning and in the larger tank there is a slow drip which is coming from where the washer is.

When I gently lift the ball cock (only slightly) the dripping stops.

Simon
 
simon
you deffo need a new washer at the very least. did you say the inlet was white as in plastic? if so i would replace the whole unit with a brass one, they are more robust and last longer.
steve
 
Steve, yes its white and plastic.

Do you think its something easy that I can do myself. ( a trip to b & q)
I'm nipping up into the loft again now for another look to see if it looks straight forward to replace.


I appreciate your help.
Simon

Turned off the water at the mains and ran all the taps till they stopped running water(this has stopped any water running in the tank) from the white inlet.

It looks awkward to get the old ball cock off though.
 
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simon
no it is pretty straightforward to change the ballcock. on the outside of the tank you have two nuts, one on the tank itself and one on the water pipe connecting to the ballcock. firstly make double sure the main stopcock is off (don't want any accidents!!) loosen the nut on the water pipe, have plenty of towels to catch any water before it goes through the ceiling, don't take off completely yet. loosen and undo the nut on the tank at the back of the ballcock holding onto the ballcock with one hand as you do it. when that is done you can undo the water connection and remove the old plastic one and replace with the new one. you should be able to swap the ball on the end of the arm to the new one. actually i would get a new ball at the same time just in case the old one doesn't fit. replacing is just the reverse of removal, making sure that all joints are nice and tight. you can adjust the arm of the new ballcock by slightly bending it down to give a slightly lower level in the tank.
hope this helps
steve:)
 
sijh

steveb's described the process well and it's not that difficult to change a ball valve.

For explanation the large tank is your cold water storage cistern. Usually (though not always) the water mains comes into the house and a pipe runs to your kitchen sink for your category 1 (potable) water supply. This pipe is tee'd up to your cold water storage cistern.

When you use water for a loo or bath etc, the water tank replenishes what's used. The incoming supply then replensishes the tank when the ball valve drops.

The large pipe bent over your cold water storage cistern is the expansion/vent pipe from your hot water cylinder. If this malfunctions, the expanded water climbs up the pipe and feeds into the cold water. When this overflows it falls through the warning/overflow pipe on to your patio. It's here so you're aware of a problem (as opposed to being hidden into a gutter or downpipe). All this is for safety purposes.

The small tank is for your central heating system and usually there's not much water in it. It is there in case your central heating fails and again, a large pipe will be above it which is the expansion/vent pipe from your central heating (usually from near the hot water cylinder). If you bleed the radiators, water is taken from this F&E (feed and expansion) tank. The ball valve drops and more water flows into the tank then into the central heating system.

If something goes wrong with the heating the expanded water will fill this tank then overflow (presumably on to your patio again).

You have two tanks because the central heating and hot/cold water systems are kept separate. When you see the colour of the water coming out of a radiator you'll be glad they are separate!

If you do a google image search for central heating systems, there are quite a few useful pictures to explain what happens.
 
nice bread and butter jobs to me these are (ballcock replacement).
although i have no poblem in helping explain things to those i ask (if i can), i think it would be a good service for those who are not sure, to ask for a plumber in their area from this site to pop round for say 10% ge3nuine discount for using this site?
what do you think.
 
Hallo,
I have a similar problem with my cold water storage tank, although it`s still in my bedroom where the council fitted it years ago. I also have a leaking overflow pipe, 3/4" I reckon. It appears to be in 2 parts, an elbow and a straight section, and the glue used in the assembly has given up the ghost and is running down the pipe. I`ve sealed it in the past but it lasted only about a year. Are there any plumbers in the Bristol area on here that could quote me for a more permanent repair? I won`t be getting a new tank as there is no need and my system works perfectly apart from this annoying leak!

Cheers, Drew
 
Hi Drew
I sent you a private message
helpsy
 
You'll also find a fibre washer is the easiest way to stop the new ball valve leaking.
 
Having a similar problem. (overflow pipe dripping out onto outside of property, only unfortunately, onto the street and in this cold weather, it is freezing and if someone slips over, I reckon they'll have me over a barrel!)

I suspect faulty washer in valve as it drips from that area of valve/arm - but in the smaller of the 2 loft tanks.

So, does this mean this is the tank for the radiators, as I have read? (Because when I pushed down on the ball cock to let water come in, water was warm?!...) And if so, would turning off the water from the main stopcock (which in my house is not under the sink in kitchen as I thought, but inside my living room carpet of all places!) not work?

I turned off all red round valves I could find in my sons room which is where the boiler is. One on the cold pipe (runs straight up sons wall - floor through to ceiling - bypassing the boiler system altogether, I think) and one pipe which was warm, just underneath the heating pump. Even when turned off both of these pipes, the smaller tank up in loft was still drawing water from somewhere (whcih was then cold?)

Just don't want to relish turning living room upside down to get to main stopcock to turn off supply if I can help it...

Sorry for hijacking / resurection a presumably old thread - google brought me here :):cool:

Sarah
 
Can't quite work out what's what in your thread and the warm water is puzzling me at the moment.

In theory, you'll have one or two cisterns in the loft. The large one is your cold water storage and the small one is the Feed and Expansion tank for the heating. Usually there will be a pipe from the large cistern to the small F&E tank. Again, usually, there's a tap or isolation valve on this pipe and this will stop the supply to the F&E tank.

Re the warm water is the water in the tank warm or the water coming through the ball valve warm? If water in the tank is warm that's okay and if the ball valve water is warm, something's wrong somewhere.

If your radiators take in water (when bleeding them) the water comes through the ball valve and into the tank so supply that radiator. (The Feed part.) If the heating system gets a little warm the water rises up the vent pipe and collects in the tank. (The Expansion part). This is fairly normal as long as your heating system isn't too hot.

In your situation you need to change the ball valve.

To do this you will need to isolate the water feeding this tank. Make sure there's no isolation valve by the ball valve (there should be). If there is turn it off and change the ball valve, otherwise trace the pipe and find out how it's being fed. (Unlikely to be from the stop tap but if that's the easiest thing to turn off and stop the water coming out ...)

Press the ball valve down before you start dismantling it to make sure water ain't going to come out in large quantities.
 
Sarah you may be able to shut off your water supply from outside of your house rather then the stopcock inside your house if this is not accesible,the little tank that you mention is the feed and expansion tank and the warm water you are getting is likely to be from your hot water tank as this is where all the unused as such water gets circulated back into your system, the pipe in your sons room is your rising main too for clarification.
 
Re the warm water is the water in the tank warm or the water coming through the ball valve warm? If water in the tank is warm that's okay and if the ball valve water is warm, something's wrong somewhere. : quoted

Of course hot pipe and cold pipes may be bound together with insulation so that warm becomes cooler and cold becomes qarmer. (It is in a section within my loft). :)
 
Not thought of that one (hot and cold together). I've not been caught out by it yet but well worth bearing in mind for the future.
 
i had that a few weeks ago, warm cold water. i wondered why until i went up into the loft and discovered that the cold pipe was fixed to the rafters above the hot!
 
Water in the small tank is cold.
Water coming into tank through ball valve (when ball pushed down) is warm.
Turned off warm supply down in sons room coming from tank/boiler and water coming through ball valve was then cold.

Large tank has a pipe going up out and over to the smaller expansion tank.

Went up in loft again. There is a tap on the cold supply pipe to the ball valve - this has crusty white deposit built up on the screw shaft of the tap/handle. Turned tap to off - water still feed ball valve. Not sure, but maybe that tap has failed and cannot turn off.
I'll probably have to turn off at mains and fit a compression isolator or new tap in that case.
 
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I'm just bumping this thread for no particular reason. If it isn't a current topic, don't worry about it, just ignore it and it'll move off the forum list before long. If it is a topic you'd like to reply to though, go ahead. :)
 
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