OVERFlow Pipe Problem - Dripping Constantly

[Wolverine747]

Dear All,

Further to my previous posts regarding my issue of an Dripping Overflow Pipe, please note that I engaged the services of Dyno-Rod Plummer’s recently and after showing them the Overflow Pipe with the dripping water and explaining to them that I suspected the problem could be in my Toilet Cistern he duly had a look and agreed and therefore removed the old gunged Diaphragm Washer from the Cistern arm and replaced it with a new Diaphragm Washer and then finished up and went on his way.

Unfortunately, later that day I checked the Overflow pipe outside and noticed that it was still wet and still dripping, hence thought to leave it for a couple of days and check again which I have since done and again unfortunately, the Overflow pipe is still dripping water.

Question 1 – If the Cistern Overflow is now repaired and not causing the problem, then what is now still causing the overflow pipe to drip water ?

Question 2 – How can I locate the problem ?

Question 3 – And how can I best go about fixing it ?

NB: Please also note that I live in a 1st Floor Flat and I don’t believe I
have a cold water tank in the flat itself hence thought the Toilet Cistern being fixed should have done the trick but Clearly this is not the case.
I have also attached 2x Pictures of the outside Overflow Pipe for info purposes.

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View media item 75169
Any help and advice would be very greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Wolverine747

 

[JohnD]

What is on the other side of the wall from those pipes? I suspect, a boiler.

When you looked under the WC cistern lid, was it overfull and reaching the overflow (1) before the "repair" (2) after the "repair"?

show us photos inside of the cistern

Have you got a hot-water cylinder? What colour is it? Stand back and take a wide photo of it.

 

[slapper]

Get the Plumber back, he should have sorted it in the first place.

 

[AngelesPlumbing]

Turn off all your appliances,toilet etc. then start elimination which is dripping

 

[FiremanT]

What type of central heating do you have - is there a hot water cylinder?

Why did you suspect the WC?

Have you looked inside any other tank, are they showing signs of an overflow.
You could try the following:

Remove WC lid, push down on valve and force an overflow. This will positively ID where the WC overflow exits.

Repeat for other cisterns (normally CH header tank and Cold water storage (CWS) cistern)

Is the drip intermittent? Worse in the morning?

 

[Wolverine747]

Dear All,

Thank you very much for all your replies.

In response please note the following information in the order of replies received:-

1. JohnD

Q1. Answer to your Question: What is on the other side of the wall, there is the Ground Floor Flat bedroom on the far left side (if you’re looking straight onto the wall) in the middle is possibly the Ground Floor flat Hot Water Cylinder in a small storage area (similar layout to my own flat) and on the far right is the Kitchen Wall and then the Front room wall.

Q2. Answer to your Question: When you looked under the WC cistern lid, was it overfull and reaching the overflow (1) before the "repair" (2) after the "repair"?

Also, the water was very close to the Overflow pipe and may have been exactly level to the overflow pipe hence assumed the worst and that the Cistern was at fault and after the repair the Plummer reduce the Cistern water fill by ½ inch so the water would always now stop a ½ below the opening of the Overflow pipe in the Cistern.

2. Slapper
Q1. Answer to your Question: Get the Plummer back but since the Toilet Cistern is now apparently fixed and the level reduced, I believe this now eliminates it form the problem and hence getting the Plummer back would not solve anything.

3. Angeles Pluming – Kevin
Q1.Turn off all your appliances, toilet etc. then start eliminating which is dripping
- When you say turn off the Appliances, I am assuming you mean turn off both my Boiler & the Toilet Cistern as these are the only appliances using the water in my flat.
- Also By turning them off, do you mean to turn off the Mains Water Supply to these items as well which I assume just means turning off the mains stop cock ? – Apologies if I’m stating the otherwise but I am a complete novice at DIY and hence need any instructions in very simple & straight forward laymen terms.

4. FiremanT
Q1. Answer to your Question: What type of Central Heating do you have – believe it is a condensing boiler type central heating and it is called: Glow-Worm FuelSave.

Q2. . Answer to your Question: is there a Hot water Cylinder – YES situated in my storage cupboard which is a large & long oval style Light Green colour Hot water cylinder.

Q3. Answer to your Question: Why did you suspect the WC? Because I was given info on this website and also it was the easiest to get to and try to resolve so thought repairing the Diaphragm washer would solve the problem – BUT clearly that would be too easy and in my life nothing is ever that easy – Typical !!!

Q4. Answer to your Question: Have you looked inside any other tank, are they showing signs of an overflow – NO as access to any other tanks is very difficult and don’t think the Boiler Hot-water Cylinder tank lid will come off anyway as looks very solid.

Q5. Answer to your Question: Is the drip intermittent? NO, was just a small constant drip but now the Toilet Cisterns is repaired, the dripping water isn’t constant anymore but takers a while for the drip to form at the end of the outside Overflow pipe but still is dripping only not so constantly now as drip takes a seconds to form before it will drip.

Having now read my replies to your initial questions guys, please let me know what my next move should be and your thoughts on the info now provided.

Any help and advice would be very greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Wolverine747

 

[Agile]

Does the overflow pipe continue dripping when you flush the toilet?

You seem to have three pipes coming out of the wall.

It has been leaking for so long it should be providing damp inside the wall soon!

 

[JohnD]

Q1. Answer to your Question: What is on the other side of the wall, there is the Ground Floor Flat bedroom on the far left side (if you’re looking straight onto the wall) in the middle is possibly the Ground Floor flat Hot Water Cylinder in a small storage area (similar layout to my own flat) and on the far right is the Kitchen Wall and then the Front room wall.

If I understand you correctly, you say that water is coming from some pipes which go through a wall, and on the other side of that wall you think there is some plumbing belonging to the ground floor flat.

Occam's Razor tells me that you should look at the plumbing on the other side of that wall.

situated in my storage cupboard which is a large & long oval style Light Green colour Hot water cylinder.

A green cylinder is fed from a cold-water storage tank, which, in a flat, may often be perched on top of the cylinder. The cold tank will have a float valve, and an overflow pipe. It may be the cause.

 

[Wolverine747]

Hi JohnD,

Thank you very much for your recent reply dated 27/05/14 and your suggestion for addressing my Overflow pipe leaking problem.

Can you also please advise me if therefore there is indeed a problem as you mentioned which might exist in the cold water storage tank with the float valve and the overflow pipe

1. What would usually cause the problem for the Overflow pipe to leak like it has ?

2. And How best can it be fixed ?

3. Is it a job that can easily be rectified ?

4. If not, Who would best deal with this type of problem – A Plummer ? Or Boiler Engineer ?

FYI – I had another look at the Overflow pipe outside last night during after it had been raining all day and the flow of water leaking from the Overflow pipe seemed strangely to have increased from a very slow drip to last night being a constant trickle of water steadily running from the pipe – Is this expected normally if there is a spat of heavy rain since this morning when it had stopped raining , I had another look and the constant trickle of water had now stopped and it had gone back to a very slow drip again – Which to me is very bizarre !!! But I am but a lay-man and hence all this is a complete learning curve for me to say the least.

Furthermore, I have managed to take a few more photos of my Boiler and the hot water cylinder in my storage cupboard area which I am assuming is the green coloured cylinder in the photo.

Again, any help and advice would be very greatly received & appreciated.

Thanks.
Wolverine747

View media item 77863 View media item 77864 View media item 77865

 

[JohnD]

the green thing is an insulated hot-water cylinder. A green one is not usually (not ever?) supposed to be pressurised, so it is fed from a cold water tank. It does not seem to have a cold tank on top of it. If you look at the bottom of the cylinder, you will see a cold supply pipe going into it. Follow this pipe to see where the supply comes from. Very often a drip is due to a worn ball-cock in a cold water tank or WC cistern.

IMO you need an experienced plumber, to look at the dripping pipe and to follow it back to where it comes from. If it turns out that the fault is in fact a pressure relief valve on the boiler, he will be able to identify it.

If you post some more pics of the pipework it may spark some other ideas. As you are on site you ought to be able to follow the route of the dripping pipe yourself to see where it comes from.

 

[St0rmer66]

Phone back dyno and tell them it's still dripping after his repair. Let him find the source, that's what you've paid for. Don't worry yourself about the diagnosis, you're not required to do half the job for him!

 

[Wolverine747]

Hi JohnD,

I understand – And I will investigate further tonight and try to follow pipe work as instructed.

I will also take some more pics of the pipe work surrounding the Hot water cylinder as suggested and also to check to see if any tank even exists above the cylinder as well and take pics of this if found as well and post up all hopefully tomorrow evening.

Unfortunately, I cannot update my thread any earlier as I end up getting busy at work during the day and so late evenings is the only time I can get some spare time to follow this up – Hence apologies in advance if it appears I’m taking a while to get back to you but if there is a delay its not because I’ve forgotten but more I’m trying to find a spare moment.

PS: Any ideas as to the Bizarre slow drip and then the sudden constant dripping when Heavy raining is involved ?

Thank you very much in advance for the info / guidance provided to date as it is very much appreciated and hopefully, slowly but surely it is leading to the conclusion I am hoping for which is to finally get to the bottom of this illusive Overflow Pipe dripping Problem.

Thanks.
Wolverine747

 

[Wolverine747]

Hi JohnD,

Further to your post received yesterday - Tues 27/05/14, I have had another look at the Storage area where my Green Hot water cylinder is located and have now realised that there is in-deed a Cold Water tank also located in the Storage area but it is separated by a flat plank of plywood and high up in the storage area.

I never really paid much attention to it since it was so high up and it never caused any problems until now.

Unfortunately, because I have built shelves across the walls of the storage unit to make use of my limited space in the flat, the tank has been completely shielded from general view.

FYI – The Cold water tank is a metallic silver colour rectangular in shape and situated above the Green Hot water cylinder in its own separate compartment area.

I will have to completely remove all the shelving and the items stored from the Storage area before I can even get access to the tank or pipe works for any further Pics of the tank and pipework to be posted.

So may have to leave this till the weekend to sort out when I have more time as could take a while to address.

I was planning on calling DYNO-Rod out again once I can get the access issue sorted but please note the following questions:-

Question 1 - What should I say could be causing the Overflow pipe to drip constantly ? Related to the Cold Water Tank ?

Question 2 - What needs to be done to get it repaired and stop the Overflow pipe from leaking water, if it is something to do with the Cold Water tank ?

Question 3 – How easy is it to get access into the Cold Water Tank and check the various parts for damage or leaks ?

All help and advice is very greatly received & appreciated.

Thanks.
Wolverine747

 

[JohnD]

1) I would not try to tell them what you think the cause is. Otherwise they might fix that, but if in fact it is not the cause, the work will be wasted. Show them the problem and let them diagnose the cause.

2) it is just my guess, but it might be the float valve in the cold water tank. Often the drip decreases during the day when water is being used, and is at its worse when you have been out of the house and the tank level has had time to rise.

3) depends how much you have boxed it in.

 

[Agile]

You can prove that its the storage tank float valve by following the tests below.

Take out about 10 litres from bath cold tap.

Leave cold tap running at a slow trickle to give a continuous but thin flow.

Wait 15 min an confirm the pipe outside is not leaking.

To be absolutely sure check it again after 30 min!

Tony