Total failure of loft water tank - flooded house for 8 hours

[flutterbye]

Hi

Came home from work last week to a complete flooding disaster! Loft, half of upstairs and many items downstairs damaged. Probably can't claim on insurance because it was my own fault - I installed the water cistern a few months back!

Of course I immediately closed the inlet isolating valve and turned on the taps to empty. Then I set about trying to see what the problem was. And at first I really couldn't. No leaks and the valve seemed fine. Then I realised that the problem was one tiny ^%^^%^ing screw which left the ballcock lose on the spindle.

However (and the reason for the post) is that I'm still nervous it could happen again. The problem is that when I installed the tank I drilled the hole for the mains inlet too close to the edge of the tank. This meant I had to bend the long arm that connects the ballcock to the valve. With this bent and the ballcockfree to turn it meant that the ballcock could doubleback close to the valve which basically meant the valve would stay open all the time.

Is it "normal" to ben the arm as in the diagram on occasion and the only reason for the flood was due to the ballcock nut not being tightened? Or should I block the hole with a stopend and fit another valve centrally?

A related question, how dangerous is it to work in flooded area with live mains cable running through?

THanks for reading and I hope our misery made an interesting story for some! View media item 744

 

[AshaDPlumber]

Quite normail to bend a ball valve, within reason. If you would be happy to move it down then do it for your own peace of mind. Have you not put an overflow in? I would suggest you just cut the power for now intill the water problem is resolved.

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Electrical advice shortened
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MOD

 

[Kes]

Do you mean that you had a rectangular feed tank and you drilled the hole for the ballcock too close to a corner so you had to bend the arm of the ballcock sideways to clear the adjacent side? (phew!).

And are you saying that the ballcock can twist sideways and that this is what it did resulting in a perpetual flow into the tank?

And are you implying that the overflow was either incapable of taking the excess flow away, or even non-existent?

No, the ballcock should not be able to turn sideways, yes, you can refit it and plug the old hole, and we all want to know what state the overflow is in, and where it is.

 

[seco services]

all to say a few bob on having the job done properly.

it don't pay in the long term, but they never learn.

 

[AshaDPlumber]

I think the chap just means he bent the arm down to take up the slack. Could be wrong, Mrs always thinks so!

 

[Kes]

Yes, I wasn't sure whether the pic was a plan or sideview. The comment 'one tiny ^%^^%^ing screw which left the ballcock lose on the spindle' is rather worrying. Well, not to me particularly, but you get the drift...

 

[minimoog]

all to say a few bob on having the job done properly.

it don't pay in the long term, but they never learn.

This is a DIY forum is it not. Or did I miss something?

 

[AshaDPlumber]

Like SECO says, all to save a few quid. Opps, house has flooded. Hmm, loose screw. Screw loose!!

 

[seco services]

This is a DIY forum is it not. Or did I miss something?

Your right but your probably missing something else like fitting cws tank's come under L REGS. which i suppose you haven't got.

 

[flutterbye]

Thanks to most of the replies.

I should have said the diagram was top-down. So I bent it side-ways.

I did fit an overflow (actually a "warning" pipe) but I guess it couldn't cope with the water under mains pressure so some escaped over the top. THe thing is I didn't go inside the loft to look until the tank was empty (I actually turned off the main house stop-cock and turned on the taps before going in and turning off the isolating valve) so I never actually saw the water pouring over the top but it must have done.

So is a lose ballcock enough to cause this havoc or was it that in combination with the bent valve arm? Now the screw is obviously completely tight, do I need to worry?

 

[gremlin16]

So is a lose ballcock enough to cause this havoc

NO
Ballcock didn't cause havoc, it was the water that ****ed your cellings

 

[ChrisR]

Yes you do need to worry!

You need to comply with water regs, building regs and common sense.

You should NOT bend any fitting like that. Bending ball valve arms went out with BS1212 part 1 valves which were banned for this application years ago. Even then you'd be daft to bend one sideways - because you're asking for it to jam.

There's a dozen opther things to get right which you might not know about,eg the supportplate which goes where the ball valve fits, height of outlets, support, insulation, etc etc.

If your household insurance covers "accidental damage" then you're covered, maybe.

 

[namsag]

Common sense would be not to mention to insurance company that you fitted it , It is not unusual for ball valves to fail so they should not look to deep into circumstances. Just claim . If they ask it was some guy working in street you paid him cash and have lost his number.

 

[minimoog]

Your right but your probably missing something else like fitting cws tank's come under L REGS. which i suppose you haven't got.

Sorry for the threadjack but seeing as I'm looking at a fitting a replacement cistern myself I'd like to avoid a similar catastrophe.

This is doubtless a naive question but is it the case then that building regs approval is necessary when fitting a loft cistern, or is it sufficient to ensure that the regs' requirements are met with no need for formal approval?

 

[Fluffster]

Mininimoog
You are correct no need to inform just carry out work in accordance with the regs.
Pete