Heavy dripping external pipes

[rog1234]

Hello all,

New on here and looking for some pluming related advise... hope somebody can be of help.

I live in a 2nd floor flat in a converted terrace house. Above the roof of my kitchen - which is visible from my roof terrace there are two thin black pipes, about 1 inch thick and at a height that is above my ceiling. These pipes have been dripping excessive amounts of water at certain times of the day - I have so far noted that it appears to be in the morning. Because they are dripping onto the flat roof of my kitchen they are causing a large puddle. Any ideas what is going on here? I spoke to the chap who lives upstairs... he said he has checked his water tank and it all looks fine. Could it be my water tank? Surely not I thought as the pipes are coming out above my ceiling and my water tank is on the floor in my airing cupboard. The dripping did appear to stop when I put the shower on.

If this is a stupid question, I apologise in advance. I am rather clueless about these plummer related things.

thanks

rog

 

[Bernie2]

Hi Rog,

Bit hard to say without knowing the flat layouts.

As a guess, I would say that they seem like overflow pipes or warning pipes to give them their real name. They are placed to prevent water waste by attracting peoples attention to them dripping and for them to get something done about it.

You can be fined for wasting water and can cause a lot of damage.

Anyway! Flats are usually laid out to be independent of each other. If you have a hot water cylinder and a cold storage cistern/tank above, the chances are its the flat above that has the problem, but doesn't know because the overflows run in the floor space between yours and theirs, so he may not even know his overflow is running and there would probably be no signs to tell him either.

So when you ask him "Is it okay?", it probably looks okay.

The thing is, it may be okay during the day when he is running water off and keeping the water level in the cistern/tank below the overflow level, but of a night the cistern/tank fills up and overflows.

By the way it may be hard to inspect the cold water storage cistern/tank if its boxed in, it may need the inspection panel taking off. Look for water marks up the sides of the cistern by the overflow or put your finger down the overflow to see if it is wet.

To confirm it, hold the ball down in the cistern until the cistern overflows, but be careful the overflow pipe may not be connected through all its length and could flood your flat. That is if its not the right overflow and has not been tested. If its the right one, it will come out of the pipes you can see.

So then its check the ball valve and float for a start. If that is okay check the hot water is not causing water to flow back up the cylinder cold feed or discharge out the vent into the cistern.

Check if its a combi blowing off.

And possibly a few other things.

All this of course is basically guess work without knowing a bit more about the system you have.

 

[justlead1]

Hi From that which you describe the first port of call would be check /replacing or rewashering the ball valve in the cistern that supply's water to the hot water cylinder. the overflow may be spasmodic as the level in the cistern reduces when water is drawn off. Good Luck

 

[Mushybees]

Overflow from cold water cistern most likely due to ballvavle letting by.

The water pressure is higher at night due to reduced consumption. This higher pressure could be causing the ballvalve to let by and causing the tank to overflow.
When you and/or your neighbour get up in the morning you'll use the wc, basin to brush your teeth and have a shower.
When next you check the tank the level will have dropped and the ballvalve, now under reduced pressure will appear to be functioning normally.

 

[rog1234]

Great, thanks for the replies guys... much appreciated.
Incidentally, when I returned home from work there was no dripping and my kitchen roof was completely dry. This morning - from when I arose at 7am until 8.30 it was dripping heavily again and the roof was soaked. My upstairs neighbor is working from home which seems to suggest the problem is related to his water use. I will have to give him another knock I suppose.

Thanks again for the advice.

FOUND IT! Yes. It was his bloomin' toilet. Thanks again for your help.

Rog