Water flowing out through attic overflow pipe intermittently

garlad

Hi

Noticed water dripping from my overflow pipe coming out of the attic just under the fascia at the back of the house. It's been happening now for a week or so, but not all the time. It could be dry for days, then for some reason it will start up again.

Any ideas? Faulty ballcock unit? Easy to replace? Or should I try to bend the arm so it cuts off earlier?

John.G

How many tanks in your attic?, you may have two, one much smaller than the other if you have a open vented heating system, have a look.

garlad

Hi John.

Actually have 3!

A really small one, a large square one and a large rectangular one.

There's a float valve in both the small and square tanks. I'm assuming the square tank feeds the rectangular tank.

Lenar3556

The two larger tanks are probably joined together to act as one large cold water store. The smallest tank is likely your central heating expansion tank.

What are the water levels in the tanks? You will see the overflow piped off at the top. Under normal conditions the water level should be well below this.

Re bending the ball valve arm, this may help in the short term, but I would advise against. It is easy to cause damage and have a much more urgent issue. In any case the ball valve is likely at the end of its life and requires replacement - usually a straightforward job.

garlad

Thanks for the comments.

Replaced it yesterday. Up to screwfix in the morning for a replacement. Then back down to Woodies to get an adjustable wrench wide enough to remove old float valve.

Float valve is in an awkward spot, so was tricky to get to, but once I figured that out it was straight forward.

Need to get a staighre!