fitted ballcock in attic water tank but still overflowing

[Sun4]

Hi there,

I have just fitted a new ballcock in water tank in loft but tank is filling too full and overflowing (reason for repalcing old ballcock). Have I done something wrong? Have tried bending arm down but to no avail. Can anyone help me?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dannypipe]

Have you checked to see that it's not filling via the open vent?

 

[Sun4]

I'm a complete novice at this - as you can probably tell - what open vent? Sorry to be so thick.

 

[Dannypipe]

No problems.

Well if the plastic tank you mentioned is the one that feeds the central heating (i.e the smaller one of the two) then it could be "pumping over" a term that means there is a fault in the system and the water is "pitching" back into the tank via the looped "swans neck" of pipe that goes over and into the tank.

Alternatively if it is the bigger of the two tanks (the cold water storage) tank which feeds amongst other things the hot water cylinder; then your fault could lie with a similar problem. If the immersion heater has a fault, and is over heating the water in the cylinder, then the open vent will pitch the extra volume created by the heating of the water back into the tank.

However before we jump ahead of ourselves, ensure that your water level shuts off when the valve's arm is raised at the level you have set it too (which should be a couple of inches below the over flow).

Of course the other thing could be that you have a split in the coil of your hot water cylinder...this is pretty easy to diagnose too. However as a novice you will need to call a plumber.

 

[Sun4]

Thanks for info. Water level just keeps rising above overflow outlet when I turn water on - it's the larger cold water tank - despite me pushing float arm down. Is there something else I should be adjusting?

 

[Dannypipe]

So its the actual valve that won't shut off? Even if you manually pull the ball arm up?

If this is the case you have a duff valve. I would open the valve up and inspect it, but that's only worth doing if you know what to look for.

 

[Sun4]

If I manually pull the arm up - quite a way - the water does shut off but it's way too high to stop water overflowing. You're right - wouldn't know waht to look for if I took it apart!

 

[Dannypipe]

In that case I suggest you either bend the brass arm down some more, or purchase a valve with an adjustable height on the arm. (The arm will have a 90 degree bend and the float will move up and down this bend to adjust the water level). You would obviously want to set the arm as close to the end as possible.

Should all this fail, your alternative is to adjust the cold feed pipework and lower it, thus lowering the height of your float valve.

 

[Sun4]

Update: think problem is solved. Tried to push arm down a bit further and it snapped - so put original arm back on new fitting - and it seems to have worked. Fingers crossed. Husband will be impressed when he gets back tonight! Thanks for all you help.

 

[Dannypipe]

Alls well that ends well.

Good work!!

 

[visionstain]

thanks you advice helped me with my problem well i learned some thing today.

Thanks.

 

[jtsplumbing]

Well done for having ago and fixing it, sounds like you bought the wrong type of ball valve for your tank, think that you had the old Part 1 type of valve, for the large tank you should have got the part 2 type its bent at the end and lets water in from top of valve, Part 1 is a straight arm and water comes in from underneath the valve. But good job done, Are you thinking of taking up a new career in Plumbing ??

 

[rpm]

thanks you advice helped me with my problem well i learned some thing today.

Thanks.

First post on the forum and it is a Thank you !

Your welcome back anytime.

 

[visionstain]

a plumber no but i did fix it so thanks.