Help with dripping pipe please

[Thingamyjig]

Hi,

Can anyone help to solve this problem we have before I call out an engineer.

We have a hot water tank in airing cupboard with another open topped tank above and to the side is another tank which looks like and old toilet cistern.

Pipe leading from tank above hot water tank to outside the property under the roof and is dripping, the water is cold.

There is no tank in the loft.

Someone suggested the ballcock needed re positioning in the tank above cold water one but there is no room to get your hand in there, is this what needs doing maybe ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks

 

[Armo74]

Sounds like it probably is ball cock failure.

Run your hot tap for a while if the dripping stops it will be the bigger of the 2 tanks.

As for getting access to it welcome to our world I'm afraid!!

You may be able to gently bend the arm down a little that may make the valve close.

 

[Thingamyjig]

Thank you for answering.

The pipe is coming out from the top tank, the one above the hot water one and we are unable to get into it as the gap is about 3" from top of the tank to the ceiling.

 

[Armo74]

Unless you can access it from above which I doubt you may need to drain the tank remove, replace the ball cock and re-fit.

Unless anyone has any other ideas?

 

[Thingamyjig]

Sorry to sound a bit thick, but how do we drain the tank ?

Thanks

 

[Armo74]

You need to isolate the cold water supply going in through the ball cock and then run a hot tap for a while till the water stops coming out.

Be aware though that the tank may not be completely empty there may still be an inch or 2 left in the tank.

 

[Thingamyjig]

We have a tap under the sink in the kitchen which isolates the mains water, is that the one ? There isnt another tap anywhere in the house.

So much easier making cakes !

 

[Armo74]

That's the one, unless you have an isolation valve on the pipework leading upto the ball cock which would be a lot less inconvenient than having to turn the mains off and realising the stop tap doesn't turn or it leaks

The isolation valve should look like a silver valve that you turn off with a flat head screwdriver.

 

[Thingamyjig]

ok brilliant thanks, will give it a go tomorrow.

 

[Thingamyjig]

well, completely baffled now...

Turned water off, ran off hot water until tap stopped running.. waited and waited and pipe still dripping

double checked that pipe leading to outside is coming from the tank above the hot water and it definitely is

 

[Armo74]

How many plastic pipes do you have that you can see from outside?

It may be the ball cock in the smaller of the 2 tanks and the warning/overflow pipes have been linked together

 

[HERTS P&D]

Sometimes it might be easy for you to post your post code and see which one of us is near you to give you a fixed price repair on replacement of the float valve.

Andy

 

[Thingamyjig]

How many plastic pipes do you have that you can see from outside?

It may be the ball cock in the smaller of the 2 tanks and the warning/overflow pipes have been linked together

There are 2 pipes outside.

The pipe stopped dripping for a while about half hour after we turned off the water and ran the hot tap but has started dripping again now once water turned back on.

Think we are going to have to call someone out to have a look, shame we cant get into the tank as if it is just the ballcock that needs adjusting/replaced we could do that easily.

Thanks for your help

 

[Thingamyjig]

Sometimes it might be easy for you to post your post code and see which one of us is near you to give you a fixed price repair on replacement of the float valve.

Andy

We are in the CM8 area
Thanks

 

[HERTS P&D]

Sorry, too far for me but wait until any other plumbers on here are closer.

Andy