A few days ago I noticed a leak from around the nylon backnut underneath the toilet cistern where the ball valve feed enters.
The actual ball valve seemed ok and I had a spare unused rubber dome washer for the valve entry hole so I simply cleaned things and replaced the rubber washer. I made sure the hole was clean by scraping and using a scotchbrite to remove any limescale.
The job included draining the cold tank in the loft. There is a gate valve in the cold feed from the tank but I don't trust it.
That initially appeared to fix the leak but I left a plastic container underneath just to be sure.
After a couple of days I found a couple of drips in the container.
As before it appeared to be from around the nylon backnut rather than where the 15mm copper pipe joins the plastic.
I suspect the root cause may be that the copper feed pipe does not accurately align with the hole in the cistern.
I think the copper pipe that emerges from behind the bath and joins a soldered 90 degree fitting is perhaps 2mm too long.
When I look at the original rubber washer, you can see that the indentation mark is not perfectly central. (See photos).
I think of a few options...
1) tighten the nylon backnut a bit and risk damaging the plastic threads. I could do that without draining the cold tank.
2) Get a plumber in to unsolder the 90 degree fitting, cut 2mm (maybe a junior hacksaw) and resolder it. Hopefully the dome washer would then sit centrally in the hole.
3) Cut the end of the copper and replace it with a short length of flexible pipe, perhaps include a service valve at the same time to make things easier in the future.
Any advice?
The actual ball valve seemed ok and I had a spare unused rubber dome washer for the valve entry hole so I simply cleaned things and replaced the rubber washer. I made sure the hole was clean by scraping and using a scotchbrite to remove any limescale.
The job included draining the cold tank in the loft. There is a gate valve in the cold feed from the tank but I don't trust it.
That initially appeared to fix the leak but I left a plastic container underneath just to be sure.
After a couple of days I found a couple of drips in the container.
As before it appeared to be from around the nylon backnut rather than where the 15mm copper pipe joins the plastic.
I suspect the root cause may be that the copper feed pipe does not accurately align with the hole in the cistern.
I think the copper pipe that emerges from behind the bath and joins a soldered 90 degree fitting is perhaps 2mm too long.
When I look at the original rubber washer, you can see that the indentation mark is not perfectly central. (See photos).
I think of a few options...
1) tighten the nylon backnut a bit and risk damaging the plastic threads. I could do that without draining the cold tank.
2) Get a plumber in to unsolder the 90 degree fitting, cut 2mm (maybe a junior hacksaw) and resolder it. Hopefully the dome washer would then sit centrally in the hole.
3) Cut the end of the copper and replace it with a short length of flexible pipe, perhaps include a service valve at the same time to make things easier in the future.
Any advice?
