some troubleshooting help for stopcock or cistern problem

[mikerouse]

The last tenants complained the water bill was too high, so Severn Trent came out and did some tests to look for a leak.

We eventually found that the downstairs toilet was dribbling water in to the pan. I was able to find out pretty easily that a rubber seal at the top of the bottom entry fill valve had split, so replaced it. Job done. Or so I thought.

That new seal doesn't seem to have stopped the silent dribble in to the pan. So I looked at the flush valve, gave the rubber seal a clean and reattached it firmly. Still dribbling.

So I took apart the fill valve again and found that water was still dribbling up the pipe even though the stopcock was tightly turned off. If I turned a tap on the house no water would come out. If I turn the stopcock back on of course the water flies out of the pipe as I had removed the fill valve.

Is it normal for this to happen? I thought the stopcock should kill the flow dead completely.

 

[seco services]

Is it normal for this to happen? I thought the stopcock should kill the flow dead completely.

Depending on age and scale thats more likely built up in the stopcock over the yrs.

 

[Homesafe]

The stopcock is passing water through, although it does'nt show at the taps probly not reached there.
Did you change the diaphram in the fill valve?, it sound like you have a torbeck type.

 

[mikerouse]

Thanks guys. I've got my head around it a bit more and am happy with the fill valve now. It's somewhere around the flush valve that's going wrong. The valve itself actually seems to be screwed tightly in place and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the seal. I wonder if it's the bit the valve screws in to that's at fault somehow.

Not helpful having a slightly dodgy stopcock preventing me from isolating the fill valve and letting me take the cistern apart completely.

Time to tell the managing agency to get a plumber in. That will be more of a nightmare than fixing it myself, but hey-ho that's life.