Water tank leaking somewhere - pls can anyone help?

boingsaidzebedee

Sounds like either water inlet or overflow.With a tank like yours I now use a torch and an angled small mirror(should you be female you will find one in your handbag,if male there may be one in your handbag also but we won't persue that in this post because it's none of my business.Else borrow one )
You can then see the water level in the tank.Otherwise----

Stand on your chair and put your hand inside the tank and feel for the ballvalve.

Move hand along valve to where it goes through tank and connects with water pipe.

Take hand out and dry it.

Put hand back in---if water level in tank is at the height where ball valve connection comes through the tank side then valve is overfilling tank and water is seeping through the 2 nuts which secure the valve to tank.

If so valve is failing and needs replacing.

Part 2 ball valve £3 to £4 pounds.

Alternatively if you feel the overflow outlet inside tank and water level is at that height then same problem.Renew ballvalve.

Water connection to ballvalve and overflow pipe would both be about 3 to 4 inches from tank top.

Sounds right from your description.Suggest you get a plumber to fix if this is the case--unlikely to be a split in the tank check this first.

Do not pull the ball valve up or tie it up as has been suggested--a brass split pin holds it all together--break it and flood your flat plus all the flats beneath equals A World of Sh*t.

A decent plumber would charge a few quid for a new valve( I buy part 2 ball valves for £2.80)and once water is turned off the job takes about 10 minutes,with a tank like yours a bit of swearing and aching arm.

I don't know where you are but a local bloke charging for an hour at reasonable rate would be fine.If in doubt Thompson Local or Yellow Pages and ask a fixed price to replace a ball valve in a cold water storage tank.Any problems then his insurance sorts it out--make sure he is insured and don't use some bloke called Fred who someone down the pub reckons could sort you out cheaplike.

Water seeping around securing nuts of pipes entering tank at top=most likely valve problem.Water seeping around securing nut of pipe at bottom of tank=big problem.

If not ballvalve and the tank itself has had it then say goodbye to a weeks wages.

Not covered by Buildings Insurance as it is a consumable part which wears out eventually.Try changing the valve yourself and mess up the water connection then I should refer you to the World Of Sh*t mentioned above.

david29dpo

I had a problem where the overflow from the tank was at the same level as the inlet to the ball valve instead of below. When the ball valve started to fail, water dripped from the hole in the tank where the ball valve it fitted, which is not water tight, before it went down the overflow. Foxed me for a while!

travel_freak

BoingsaidZebedee

:rotfl::T Thank you so much for giving me a much needed giggle this morning, loved your post, my world at the mo is already one of the type you mention!! Seriously though thank you so much for taking the time to post such a detailed idiot's step by step guide to checking out my tank.

It's helpful to have a better understanding as I'm pretty clueless and am worried about being told the problem is something that it isn't.

Off now to get mirror (yes, from handbag), torch and to prepare for some arm aching further investigation....

italia

can anyone help me, i have an electric water tank, it was leaking and it turned out the it was the overflow at the bottom which would leak if i didn't run enough water off often enough. this was sorted by tightening the overflow but ever since then it has been making knocking sounds and buzzing a bit, is it going to blow up, ive heard water ones can coz of the pressure?

aside from that i can't sleep because of the noise, would rather go back to the leak into a bucket!