Overflow pipe constantly dripping...

JMurph

Hi all

As the title says, my overflow pipe from the water tank in the roofspace seems to be dripping non-stop, regardless of whether heat is on/off, water boiler on/off...

I've no idea why. Is it a problem, is there anything I can do about it?

Thanks for your help

UncleZen

The pipe will lead back to a water tank. In that tank will be a ballcock (it will look like a big ball usually), the ballcock is connected to the water inlet if the ballcock is up the water coming in stops, if the ballcock is down, the water will come in (via a valve where the ballcock connects to the pipe). I suspect your ballcock is up but water is still coming in and overflowing via the overflow pipe (otherwise it'll flood your house). If thats the case it points to a faulty valve on the end of the ballcock. An easy job for a plumber or suitably skilled DIYer.
Or (less likley) it could be that something is stopping the ballcock from returning to its full up position (as happened with my MIL the other day).

Chunks

This is the cold water supply in the large tank in your loft? Almost certainly your ballcock washer. Have a look in the tank and see if it is dripping. Dirt cheap and easy to replace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTQy27l7qDQ

Chunks

JMurph

Thanks guys, situation is exactly as you described. I'll take a look at the video when I get home. Am happy enough to try most things so will see if I can stop the dripping myself.

googler

JMurph wrote: »

Thanks guys, situation is exactly as you described. I'll take a look at the video when I get home. Am happy enough to try most things so will see if I can stop the dripping myself.

The water tank in the roofspace is almost certainly your cold water tank, which in many houses supplies cold water to WC, bath, washbasin, so altering the hot water or heating will have no effect.

If you turn off the stopc*ock/gate valve at the entry point to the tank, that will stop the tank filling, and stop the overflow dripping until you can make a repair to the ballc*ock, washer or whatever has failed. That's a temporary solution.

Using the WC, bath, washbasin etc will use some of the water in the tank; then you turn it back on, fill the tank, turn it off again. Once you've done that a few times, you'll soon be calling a plumber or watching those repair videos.....

mikey72

I'm with andrew-b.

I've near enough given up changing washers now. It's easier to replace the valve, by the time you've dug the old one out of all the corrosion and limescale it's cheaper too.