What does this pipe thats sticking out of my wall do?

SmallL

Hey,
I have a small pipe or tubing that sticks out of the brickwork that belongs to the 'toilet room' (its downstairs). It drips continuously (its on the outside of the house), i was wondering if its some sort of condensation prevention for the toilet room as its flat roofed and non-insulated. Though we only moved in two years ago when the last owners had newly painted the interior which we then discovered was because it got very very damp and the ceiling dripped due to condensation.
Now we have a little heater in that room that prevents the water forming (though we are left with a MASSIVE black patch of visible damp).

At the moment iv stuck a watering can under the drip to collect water for my plants so i hope thats safe to do

JMurph

As a non-expert, my guess is it's overflow from the toilet cistern, and the fact that it's dripping suggests you might need your stopcock replaced

Niv

JMurph wrote: »

As a non-expert, my guess is it's overflow from the toilet cistern, and the fact that it's dripping suggests you might need your stopcock replaced

Before you jump the gun and replace anything, try adjusting the ball valve in the cistern (assuming it has one).

Niv

Leif

Installing a fan may help reduce/prevent condensation. I don't think you can do it yourself, or you have to have it inspected by a qualified person, not sure which.

RAS

I think you have two separate problems

1. A leaking toilet cistern. The water will be pure and fine for use in the garden. Trying adjusting the arm holding the floating ball. Otherwise you may be able to repair the valve.

2. A structural problem. Check that the damp course has not been breached by soil or even leaf litter piling up against the wall. A flat roof may be leaking. If neither of these are a problem, I would recommend that you consider a small externally vented fan and a dehumidifier rather than a heater.

wellused

The pipe is probably from the cistern and is known as the warning pipe, if this is what it is it's probably trying to tell you something.

Wig

What height is it on the wall?

What is visible on the inside where this pipe would be seen coming into the room where does the pipe go to on the inside?

Farway

It is an overflow pipe, as others have said, you have a problem with your toilet cistern ballcock

The point of the overflow is to prevent potentially flooding your loo from the cistern

It is not hard or technically difficult to fix

culpepper

If the black patch is on the interior, you can clean it with bleach which should kill it and as you have a heater to stop condensation, it hopefully wont return.
We sometimes have to check the thing inside our toilet cistern as we are in a very hard water area and it gets lime-scale build up that stops the ball arm from closing the valve properly.