My cistern runneth over

A test of endurance

We had a technique for flushing the toilet and you could not have two consecutive flushes in the space of 10 minutes of each flush, one had become accustomed to that. When going away, I completely shut off the water mains because the cistern did overflow even after it was obvious that no water was being fed into the cistern. All it took was about 3 days for the floor to flood.

Whatever adjustments I tried to make to the ballcock valve mechanism only seemed a temporary fix and it never got better. This weekend, it came to a head, as the cistern was leaking within an hour of the last flush. Then when at home, you don’t want to close off the water mains as it is needed for the kitchen, the dishwasher and the washing machine, amongst other things, it had become inconvenient.

Calling the toilet doctor

We have a website to log issues with the letting agent that arranges for a workman to visit and fix things. My call went out just after midnight in the transition from Sunday to Monday and by 10:00 AM I had a response that I will be contacted by a service engineer. The report was detailed with photographs along with the suggestion to have the ballcock valve mechanism changed and a stopcock or isolating valve on the pipe feeding the cistern.

When the engineer/plumber arrived, he had made assumptions, a jiggle here and there, he concluded everything was fine and I was not convinced. Within 30 minutes of his departure, the floor was wet and the bathroom rug was soaking wet. He was not available on the phone so I updated my incident report with new photographs of the high-water mark in the cistern extended by about 15 millimetres.

Back on a goose chase

At least, one thing I learnt when he was here was that there was already an isolating valve on the pipe feeding the cistern that could be operated with a flat screwdriver. I flushed the toilet; had it fill up and activated the isolating valve in anticipation of his next visit. That did not happen until I called the letting agent this morning the plumber offered to arrive in 30 minutes with a new fitting.

The fitting after about 45 minutes did not fit, so, he put the old contraption back together and indicated he needed to get another suitable part. He was away for about an hour before returning with a new part and I left him to his devices to do what needed doing. Some 30 minutes later, he called out to say he was done whilst I was on a conference call.

Just try to listen first

Like I suggested at the onset the ballcock valve mechanism was fully replaced and I now know of the isolating valve. Whilst I am no plumber, he could have had a look at what I reported and be prepared for all eventualities rather than end up visiting thrice for over 2 hours of work.

To think the ballcock mechanism was replaced just 4 years ago, you do wonder about the durability of the water cistern system or the quality of the workmanship that fix it that last time. The fixtures seemed to be on worn or misaligned screw threads. I withhold comment on the quality and just look forward to the peace of an easy toilet flush without any expert holds whilst being barred from doing the simple things.

The second photograph with symptoms - the isolating valve is just above the indicator for a stopcock.

After the first visit, the high water mark in the cistern was exceeded by 15 mm.

The plumber calls

Boiler leaks

The opening of a closet in my apartment revealed a mess I could do without, somewhere around my immersion heater boiler water had leaked onto the base soiling too many things and creating quite a stink.

Unaware of where exactly the leak was coming from the first thought was to electrically isolate the boiler to forestall the possibility of electrocution.

Having done that, I took out a few cardboard boxes and some other material that all had to go to the recycle bin and then I got a few towels to soak up the water. I literally got two buckets of water from the spillage and contemplated what next to do.

I found a cold water tap leading into the boiler and turned it off not knowing it was the water feed to the whole apartment. I only learnt this when I called the concierge realising there was no water supply to the cold water taps as I drained the boiler of hot water.

Why this?

He then explained how the water system works, the cold water inlet feeds into the boiler where the colder water settles at the bottom and the heated water rises to the top, I could still not say for sure how it all worked.

Somehow the overflow system had been messed up and that was why there was a leak and I was advised to inform the agents of the landlord of the problem which should be solved as soon as possible.

So, I sent an email to the agency and within an hour I received a response that the plumber will be available in the afternoon. It was going to be a lady.

And fixed

When the plumber finally arrived, it was a man and his apprentice sidekick, the lady stayed in the van. Though this did not stop me for quipping about the gender confusion making the news lately, to which is smirked and laughed.

He checked the boiler and found that the ballcock, and that is a real plumbing engineering part was not working closing off the water when the boiler filled up. Besides, this he noticed that the inlet pipe should have been placed higher than overflow pipe, but they were placed at the same level, hence the leak.

The ballcock was replaced and the problem solved, I wrung the towels dry and then set up a fan to dry up the cupboard overnight.

This was all done in the space of 3 hours and I was happy.