Shock Letter from Water Authority

rollon65

Good morning Cardew,

Thank you for your further input.
Looking at the dimensions and referring then to the internet for the like, I would reckon that my tank is of the 15 gallons/68 litres variety.
I was able to get the best part of 9 hours without any water usage overnight and this morning there was not a single drop of water in my strategically placed bucket.
At the induction rate of 7 litres over a period of 4 hours, I make that 15.75 litres would have flowed over the 9 hours duration.

The other possibility is that the ballc0ck mechanism is worn/gunged up. Thus it will allow water in, when some is used in the house, and then just drips with the level of water rising to a point where the ballc0ck shuts off the supply and the dripping stops.
If that is the case, then you haven't got a leak as the meter will stop registering at some point when the dripping stops.

I do tend to favour this scenario.
What I am failing (it would seem) to grasp is where this 40-odd litres per day is going and how it would increase our normal daily consumption.
Water comes into the bungalowon demand and we either use it, or we don't.
If there is no leak or any overflowing - and we are continuing to consume water at our typical rate (and it might indeed be at a rate that keeps pace with the replenishment of the tank without ever achieving the overflow level), how does this have any bearing at all on our high consumption?
This particular chunk of water is neither being wasted, nor being additionally consumed.
How does that proposition grab you?
I am hoping the acquaintance (a life-time professional central heating engineer) who actually installed my central heating system, will call on me at the weekend, to resolve the issue of getting at the ballc0ck and shed some conclusive light on the matter.
I am completely ready for the root of the problem to be something that I have not thought of, that will cause me embarrassment, but so far it has eluded me!

Best regards - rollon65.

Cardew

As you have a bungalow surely much of your water will be direct from the main water supply. So what water is drawn off from that tank?


What sort of heating do you have?


However that tank seems very small. Mine is approx 450 litres(4'x2'x2') indeed the header tank for my CH system is about the size of your tank.

rollon65

Hello Cardew,

You are indeed correct, the bulk of our water usage comes directly from the mains. The water from the tank provides for our hot water consumption only (sinks, bath and central heating).
Heating is via 6 radiators that are fed by a Glow-worm Flexicom 15hx combination boiler
We have an 18 litre header tank and a standby 117 litre immersion heater cylinder as well.
Central heating is timer controlled for 2.5 hours in the morning and 3 hours of an evening, at this time of year.
Still struggling though with:

What I am failing (it would seem) to grasp is where this 40-odd litres per day is going and how it would increase our normal daily consumption.
Water comes into the bungalow on demand and we either use it, or we don't.
If there is no leak or any overflowing - and we are continuing to consume water at our typical rate (and it might indeed be at a rate that keeps pace with the replenishment of the tank without ever achieving the overflow level), how does this have any bearing at all on our high consumption?

Best regards - rollon65.

rollon65

Hello all,

The guy who installed my central heating system called on us today and inspected the suspect water tank.
He declared in his professional opinion that the odd drip of water was down to a "lazy" ball valve.
With one hand under the lid of the tank, he gave the float arm a number of manual depressions of varying length, after which there was no more dripping.
This was intended to "ease" the float arm and disturb any accumulated algae.
I checked again about 2 hours after he left and all was quiet, but he has offered to have all the internals out for re-invigoration, should I experience any more dripping before Monday.
I tackled him about any consequences of the dripping on our inflated water bill and he was adamant that if there was no issue from the overflow, it would have no bearing on our water consumption whatsoever.
Where to now, I wonder?

Best regards - rollon65.

Cardew

rollon65 wrote: »

I tackled him about any consequences of the dripping on our inflated water bill and he was adamant that if there was no issue from the overflow, it would have no bearing on our water consumption whatsoever.
Where to now, I wonder?

Best regards - rollon65.

Hi,


I agree with the plumber - that is what I stated in post#31.

The other possibility is that the ballc0ck mechanism is worn/gunged up. Thus it will allow water in, when some is used in the house, and then just drips with the level of water rising to a point where the ballc0ck shuts off the supply and the dripping stops.

If that is the case, then you haven't got a leak as the meter will stop registering at some point when the dripping stops.

Can't you just lift the lid enough to get an arm in and push down the ballc0ck arm until the water starts flowing from the overflow?

If you do as I suggested in the last paragraph above - push down the ballcock arm/float until the water just starts to run from the overflow, you can check if you are still using 6/7 litres every 4 hours. If it is the tank then that 6/7 litres will be in the bucket you place under the overflow.

rollon65

Hello again Cardew,

Yes indeed, you did point that out to me. I thought I'd squared that with you by saying "I do tend to favour this scenario", but no slight intended either way.
Will run that test as soon as I can be at home for the duration and "the lady of the house" gives me dispensation for a further 4 hour period with no water use by ourselves.
Guess I need to do that before I get back to the water authority so that I can appraise them of the outcome too.
Today's 14:00 hrs meter reading reveals no new trend. I would like to monitor the meter across a different time slot, but that is the least obtrusive for us.
We still have the central heating and the hot water supply in action over night, both of which could introduce factors that might influence the result perhaps.

Best regards for now - rollon65.

Cardew

Hi,
I think we are slightly at cross purposes.


The purpose of the ballcock 'experiment' is to attempt to eliminate the dripping from the ballcock into the tank as the source of your leak. i.e. if the level of the water is just up to the overflow, any further dripping will overflow into your bucket as long as you use no water from the tank.


As you are a bungalow, presumably your toilet(s) are supplied direct from the mains?? and not from the tank.


If you switch off CH and use no hot water overnight, there should be no demand from the tank.

rollon65

Hello Cardew,

Get your drift now - will try that out, tonight perhaps.
Yes indeed, toilet is off mains supply.

Much appreciated - rollon65.

rollon65

Hello Cardew,

I ran the test as you suggested and after an overnight interval of more than 8 hours, there was no water in my bucket, nor on the srrounding area (should the bucket have not been precisely on target!).
Have also run my 4 hour test with water on, but none being used today.
Am yet to view the results to see if there has been any change there.

Best regards - rollon65.

km1423

This is a good post rollon65, very interested to learn the outcome of all your hard work. Keep us informed pleased. Thanks