I've got a badly dripping overflow pipe. Is it to do with the water tank in the loft?

Question

I was wondering if I could get up in the loft and sort it myself with your advice or do I definately need a plumber. Sometimes it stops for a while, then starts again with a vengeance.

The pipe is coming from above the window of the toilet.

Answer 1

Easy fix, first determine if it's from the toilet cistern or in the loft.

Answer 2

It will be the ballcock on your header tank, either for your central heating or hot water.

Push the valve up and down a few time, it might free it up. Limescale has likely blcoked the seat or the ecternal linkage, give it a good clean.

If not,,,,

Get in the loft and see if there is an isolating valve just before the tank on the inlet pipe.

If so, then changing it is an easy job. If not then you might have to look around the system for the valve - not a big problem. You just need to be able to get to the stage when if you press the ballcock down in the tank no water comes out - then your isolated and can disconnect.

Alternatively, if you are good at fiddling you can dismantle the ballcock valve and reseat it.

You'll need a couple of spanners or adjustables and half an hour.

If its jsut started recently its probably the ballcock on your heating header tank ( becaue you've jsut recently put your heating on ). This will be the smaller of the 2 tanks.

If you are not up to this, ask around your friends, there is no need to pay a plumber for this simple job.

If you lived near me, all it would cost you is a cup of tea !

Answer 3

It sounds like the ballcock in the watertank in loft. If you have a fairly high loft in which you can stand up then it's not really a problem to replace.
A quick fix, although not recommended for long term use is to slightly bend the arm so that not so much water enters the tank, or place a small container on the end that acts as a further weight and thus the arm doesn't rise as high with the water.

Answer 4

There are two things you can do. Fit an elbow or tee on the end of the pipe outside. And/or extend the pipe in the tank with two short pieces of pipe and an elbow so that the pipe is just under the surface of the water. Although it may look as though the overflow will be altered it won't be. Water will flow as before along the pipe as before if the level rises but you won't get any wind problems. You can test it by sinking the ball valve if you are not convinced!

Answer 5

We had a similar problem, although for some reason the overflow from our loft tank just stopped in the middle of the ceilling so the water came dripping down into the bathroom! It was a sticky ballcock arm, we'd drained the tank to fit a radiator the day before, a good wiggle cured it.

Answer 6

Its a faulty ballvalve in either your cold water tank or your toilet cistern - trace the pipe back to find out which. Changing a ballvalve isnt too difficult but if you want a quick fix until a plumber can call or you get to the shops, just tie the ball up so its sitting at the top of the tank - this will stop the water running through the overflow but is only a temporary fix. Dont leave like this or you may get a flood in the future.

Answer 7

In your cold water tank in the loft theres a ball **** that stops the water from over filling the tank, it quite often gets old and rusted and stops working properly and as a result some water over flows out of the pipe connected to the cold tank. Go buy the part from any blumber the whole floating ball and arm is only about a tenner and fit it yourself it will take no time and im crap at DIY.
Have a look first in the loft to determine what kinda float and arm u got before going obviously.

Answer 8

If it is one of the tanks in the loft (you may have two, one for storage one for the central heating) it will probably be lime scale clogging up the movement of the arm.

Push the arm with the float on it up and down rapidly using the full travel of its movement. It can also be adjusted easily.

Dependant on the type it is If their is NO adjustment on the float to be move up or down on the arm by turning a wing nut at the conection to the arm then take the arm in two hands and gently bend the arm down. If there is a nut undo it and push the float down a bit before re-tightening.

Answer 9

A ballcock valve controls the water level in a tank or toilet cistern. When the water reaches the required level, the valve closes so that no further water is let in to the tank until the next time it is emptied, or flushed. If the valve fails, the water level will continue to rise until it is diverted to the outside of the property by an overflow pipe, which prevents it flooding onto the floor.

The float itself doesn't tend to fail; it's usually the sealing diaphragm inside the ballcock, which is made of rubber and eventually just perishes. If a new float is not needed, you can save a bit of money by buying a new ballcock without buying a new float, as you can use the float off the old one. If the float does get broken or punctured, you can seal it inside a plastic bag as a temporary measure, where urgent action is required.

To replace a washer in a metal bourne valve, turn off the water supply, and then pull out the split pin that connects the float arm to the valve. Don't drop the pin into the tank.

Remove the arm and unscrew the threaded cap on the end of the valve body and slide out the piston.

Unscrew the piston end cap that retains the rubber washer - use pliers to grip the cap while turning the piston with a screwdriver held in the side slot.

Clean the parts with wire wool, then put a new washer in the end cap and refit the piston.

Reassemble the valve, taking care to align the slot in the piston with the bottom of the valve body in order to receive the end of the float arm.

Replace the diaphragm in a plastic valve by unscrewing the large retaining cap. Pick out the old diaphragm and insert a new one.

Reassemble the valve and turn the water back on. If necessary, reset the float arm with the regulator screw to raise or lower the water level in the cistern - the water should be about 25 mm (1 in) below the overflow.

To replace the ballcock, turn the water off. In the case of a water tank, you don't always need to empty the tank, just disconnect the pipe from the old ballcock, unscrew the nuts holding the ballcock in place and put a new one in place.

With a toilet you may find that the ballcock is what they call bottom entry, which is just a cosmetic thing so the pipe goes into the bottom of the cistern rather than the side of the cistern, but it's a nuisance when it comes to this job because it means that you have to drain the cistern. Turn the water off; then flush the toilet and bail out the rest of the water before you remove the ballcock to change it.

When the new ballcock is in position, adjust the water level back to the same level as before. In the case of a toilet, test the flush.

As a rule of thumb in a cold-water storage tank you use a brass-bodied ballcock, which is called a part 1 or part 2, because of the part of the water bylaws it complies with. In a toilet cistern you use a part 3 ball-valve usually made of plastic. On the brass-bodied ones, the arm going to the float is made of metal and the only way of adjusting the level is by bending that arm - so bend it to achieve the level you want.

If the ball-valve makes noise from the water pouring out of it splashing into the tank you can fit what's called a Torbeck valve which, as well as incorporating a very small arm and a very small float, incorporates a plastic pipe that the water runs down into the tank and so doesn't make any splashing noises.

In a hard-water area problems may be caused by a build-up of limescale on the float arm and valve. This may require regular attention by cleaning off the limescale. Limescale remover solutions can help or limescale can be carefully chipped off.

Ball cocks are sometimes incorrectly called ball valves because the float is ball shaped. In this article the term ballcock is used instead of ball valve. A ball valve is actually a ball with a hole through it, which turns 90 degrees to stop or start the water. This type of valve is used to connect the water supply to a washing machine because of the low pressure loss incurred in the valve caused by its simple flow path.

Answer 10

CANNOT BEAT THEM ANSWERS ABOVE ME
but if you wish i could come around have a look @ £65 call out then £115 to sit there for an hour then charge you an extra £85 for the 6 cups of tea you made me
and i will throw in some vat for good measure
hows that
or i will be happy for 10 points