Hi
Looking for a bit of advice, I've had a look through the FAQs and other posts and haven't managed to find my specific situation but apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.
For a little while now one of the overflow pipes coming from out of my loft has been dripping intermittently. It appears to be a regular, probably daily, occurrence but not in any great quantity as I've only ever actually witnessed a drip once or twice but the evidence is there as under the overflow pipe is a piece of wood that almost always has a damp patch.
I finally got round to going into the loft to investigate expecting to come across a an issue with a ball valve but found that the levels in both the hot water tank and F&E tank were below the overflow pipes and while the hot water tank valve does drip for a time after filling it does fully cut off before reaching the overflow.
Looking at the location of the two overflow pipes it appears that the dripping is coming from the F&E tank. It just so happens that while I was up there investigating the boiler was currently heating the hot water and there was a constant flow of hot water from what I believe is the vent pipe. It wasn't gushing out but was definitely a constant flow while the pump was running. I got the wife to turn off the hot water while I was up there and the flow immediately stopped. Despite this flow of water into the tank the water level was still nowhere near the overflow pipe and it doesn't look the tank is overflowing in the traditional sense. My best guess is that condensation may be building up in the overflow pipe and that is what is dripping outside. I haven't been up there while the central heating is on so can't currently comment as to whether the same thing is happening.
So really I have two questions:
Thanks in advance for your help and hopefully my explanation and terminology is correct.
Looking for a bit of advice, I've had a look through the FAQs and other posts and haven't managed to find my specific situation but apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.
For a little while now one of the overflow pipes coming from out of my loft has been dripping intermittently. It appears to be a regular, probably daily, occurrence but not in any great quantity as I've only ever actually witnessed a drip once or twice but the evidence is there as under the overflow pipe is a piece of wood that almost always has a damp patch.
I finally got round to going into the loft to investigate expecting to come across a an issue with a ball valve but found that the levels in both the hot water tank and F&E tank were below the overflow pipes and while the hot water tank valve does drip for a time after filling it does fully cut off before reaching the overflow.
Looking at the location of the two overflow pipes it appears that the dripping is coming from the F&E tank. It just so happens that while I was up there investigating the boiler was currently heating the hot water and there was a constant flow of hot water from what I believe is the vent pipe. It wasn't gushing out but was definitely a constant flow while the pump was running. I got the wife to turn off the hot water while I was up there and the flow immediately stopped. Despite this flow of water into the tank the water level was still nowhere near the overflow pipe and it doesn't look the tank is overflowing in the traditional sense. My best guess is that condensation may be building up in the overflow pipe and that is what is dripping outside. I haven't been up there while the central heating is on so can't currently comment as to whether the same thing is happening.
So really I have two questions:
- Is the flow of hot water coming out of the pipe while the water is heating normal?
- Does it sound feasible that the dripping is condensation rather than a genuine overflow?
Thanks in advance for your help and hopefully my explanation and terminology is correct.