persistant drip from loft cold water storage overflow

[dripdripdrip]

Hi, I'm not sure if this should be in plumbing or heating section, so apologies if I have posted in wrong forum

I have 2 cold water storage tanks in loft, & the smaller one, which I understand to be the water supply for a vented heating system, is constantly dripping via the overflow outside the house.

I have had a plumber out, who charged me £75 to replace the ball valve, but within hours, the overflow was dripping again. He eventually came back out, replaced the faulty ball valve for another new one (apparently) & left. Within hours the drip was back. I rang him back up, & he now reckons its a heating engineer I need, & it may be the thermostat set too high?

I have also had my uncle out twice, & a family friend, who whilst not plumbers, understand the basics, who both lowered the water level, bent the arm of ball valve, slightly adjusted the angle of the overflow pipe, and temporarily fixed the dripping. Again, within hours, the drip is back & the water level has risen again.

After the plumber told me it could be the thermostat set too high, I lowered the dial on boiler right down, hey presto, the drip stopped (again, but then provided no hot water!) but within hours was back to its usual self. The ONLY time the overflow does not drip is while the heating is on, or the hot water is being heated.

Can anyone offer any more advice? This is really developing into Japanese water torture, as it has now gone on for weeks, & I'm also concerned about causing damp to the exterior of our home :bigcry:

Many thanks in anticipation

Joanne

 

[Dotty]

How long has this been going on Jo?

 

[helpsy]

Isolate water supplies to ALL tanks and see if the little tank level is raising and the bigger tank level is dropping. Split coil?

 

[dripdripdrip]

I would say approximately 6 weeks now

 

[helpsy]

I would also add this would only apply if ALL tanks fitted correctly.....IE on the same level.

 

[dripdripdrip]

thanks, I'll give that a try helpsy, or rather other half will, is it an easy job to replace or do I need a plumber or heating engineer in?

 

[dripdripdrip]

I think so, if you mean heightwise? I presume they've been fitted properley as its an old system & a new drip issue

 

[helpsy]

I would certainly advise getting a plumber in as it could cost you substantially more in the long run.
Whereabouts are you situated?

 

[dripdripdrip]

On the Wirral, Merseyside area, I'm reluctant to bring back the original plumber as he just seemed to want to wash his hands of it & said it was a heating issue, plus we wasted a lot of work time waiting around when he didn't turn up.

 

[Jones82]

Try another plumber, a plumbing and heating engineer.

It could be a number of things, I once saw a tank overflowing due to back flow across a shower, the mains pressure creeps across the shower or mixer tap, works its way up the tank fed hot water supply and reverse fills the tank!

Had any mixer taps or showers fitted recently? They should have check valves to prevent backflow. Or it could be due to a faulty cartridge in a tap/shower.
Shut the supply off to the tank in the loft, does the overflow still run?

i also heard of the same principle but the cold water found its way through a pin hole in a domestic hot water pipe... Could be an urban myth though.

A split coil would only cause the over flow to run in the f&e tank if the cwsc is higher than the f&e tank. In lay mans terms, if the big tank is higher up than the little one, it could mean a new hot water cylinder.

Try to narrow down which of the tanks is overflowing and tell your new plumber when he comes

 

[dripdripdrip]

Many thanks Jones, I was reading about this last night, and we do have a dodgy mixer tap in kitchen that leaks unless in a certain position so I'll get that sorted & see how we get on.

Hubby tells me that there is a drip in the larger tank, but its the smaller tank that the overflow is dripping from.

Appreciate your help

 

[REDSAW]

classic sign of pinholed coil=new cylinder.
or
ceramic valve cross feeding up hot feed imo. isolate the kitchen tap pipe first using ballofix valves which you can do befor stumping up ££££ for the cylinder.

in fact, turn off the mains stopcock for a couple of hours see what happens!!